Salvation
by Mystique6
Summary: Gray finds Natsu raped and beaten by the members of Avatar. Can he protect the dragon slayer from his new teammates? Can he protect the dragon slayer from himself?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **First off there is rape in this fanfiction so if that's not your thing than don't read any further than this. Secondly, I have this story posted on ao3 so if it looks familiar to you that's why. Anyway, please enjoy the story and review.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing from Fairy Tail. All rights belong to the writer and creator of the manga.

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Gray was just throwing his jacket on when his eyes landed on his Avatar guild mark. Not for the first time since joining the dark guild so many months ago its presence made him pause for a second. Well, it wasn't actually the mark that was there that made him pause, but the mark that wasn't there. He sighed pulling his jacket on all the way so it covered the mark. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to place his new guild mark in the same spot as his old Fairy Tail mark. He'd be thinking about his old guild for the rest of the day, and by default Avatar's current captive.

"Natsu," Gray sighed as he exited his room. It had been three months since Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had infiltrated Avatar's base. Well, old base, they'd been forced to find a new one after the incident with Natsu and then the battle against the Magic Counsel's army. Avatar had won the battle, taking out many of the Counsel's best soldiers, Gajeel and Levy included, but their base had been demolished in the attack. They now resided in another old, abandoned church that was even more remote than their first base. High Priest Alok wanted no other interferences to get in the way of the purification ritual. He was furious enough already that thanks to the counsel and Gray's old comrades that the ritual had had to be pushed off for a whole year.

Gray had honestly been surprised that the high priest hadn't called for the execution of his old comrades, instead demanded that they be imprisoned. However, Gray had insisted they let Lucy and Happy go free, claiming that the two alone would not be able to stop Avatar's plans and would stop trying to bring Fairy Tail back under the threat of Natsu's death. Much to the rest of Avatar's, and Gray's, shock, High Priest Alok had agreed and Gray had watched a devastated Lucy and Happy leave Natsu behind. In that time Gray had not gone to see Natsu once, but now, with his old guild on his mind he found himself wandering down to the dungeons under the church.

He walked past three empty prison cells before reaching Natsu's and froze at the pitiful sight of his old comrade. Natsu's arms were chained above his head and he had been stripped of his waistcoat and scarf. The lack of clothing made it clear to see that the dragon slayer was being starved. Gray could count every rib and he was standing three feet away at the door of the cell. God only knew when the last time someone had fed him. He could also see the many angry, purple splotches covering almost every inch of Natsu's skin. Gray felt his heart sink as he realized Natsu had been beaten, most likely every day for the past three months, and he had known nothing about it.

"Natsu!" he cried rushing forward and kneeling in front of his old comrade. Natsu's head raised up as he called his name, but Gray was shocked to see him flinch at the sight of him. "Natsu?" The pink haired teen looked away from him again and cowered back against the wall of the cell, seemingly trying to get away from the ice mage. Gray frowned at the strange behavior the flame-brain was exhibiting. What exactly had his new guild mates done to the dragon slayer to take all the fight out of him? Anger coursed through Gray's veins and he reached up to the chains holding Natsu down and froze them until they shattered.

He bent down and hefted Natsu up into his arms, ignoring the terrified look on Natsu's face. "You're not staying in this cell," he told the struggling mage and began to carry him out of the cell. He hadn't yet cleared the dungeon when the voice of one of his guild mates behind him brought him to a halt.

"Gray? What are you doing?" Jerome asked.

He didn't even bother turning around. "I'm taking him to my room," Gray replied and started moving again. He scowled further as he heard Jerome chasing after him.

"You can't do that," the blonde mage argued. "He's a prisoner, and the guild's play toy." Fury washed over Gray, but he knew he couldn't let anyone think he might be trying to protect his old comrade. He needed to keep these new alliances if he wanted to reach his goal of destroying E.N.D, so he forced himself to remain composed as he turned around to face Jerome.

"Well, now he's my play toy," he replied lacing his words with all the possessiveness he could muster. "You and the rest have all had your fun with him. Now it's my turn."

"You can't do that!" Jerome cried. "You can't just claim him as your own! You have to share!"

Gray shrugged as he turned around and continued up the dungeon stairs. "Take it up with the high priest," he called back completely unconcerned. He had no doubt Alok would favor him over Jerome. He was the most useful member of Avatar. If he wanted to keep Natsu to himself he knew it would be allowed. "And in the meantime have someone make a broth and send it up to my room. And whoever has his white scarf should deliver that to me, too." He tightened his grip on the fire dragon slayer as he pushed open the door of his room and then placed him on the bed. His brow furrowed in concern as he realized the flame-brain's skin was glistening with sweat, and the boy only seemed half conscious. He placed as hand over Natsu's forehead and his eyes widened as he felt the hot skin underneath his palm. Natsu had always felt too warm to Gray, but now he felt boiling hot. A twinge of fear crept through him. If the fire idiot had a fever than he must be in really bad shape.

Gray cooled his hand that was resting on the boy's forehead to try and cool the dragon slayer down a little. He ran his hand through Natsu's pink locks hoping to provide his old friend some comfort. He frowned when the pink haired teen flinched at the gesture. He sighed and stepped back from the bed and headed to his private bathroom. He immediately ran the cold tab on and let it fill the tub. When the water was high enough he shut the tab off and added his own ice cubes to the water for good measure. Surely, this cold bath would bring down Natsu's fever. He walked back out to his bedroom and saw that Natsu had remained exactly how he'd left him, lying prone on the bed.

Gray walked back towards him and felt his concern growing at the drawn look on the dragon slayer's face. He needed to get him in the cold bath as quickly as possible. Not thinking anything of it he reached out and gripped onto the waistband of Natsu's pants and began to pull them off. He hadn't even gotten them past the hips when Natsu flipped and screamed before kicking out at Gray. Gray stumbled back in shock at the flame-brain's extreme reaction. He watched as Natsu curled into a ball on the bed and began to shake uncontrollably. He was even more horrified to see angry, red welts covering the whole of Natsu's back.

"Natsu?" he asked concerned as he rushed over to the distressed mage. He grabbed onto the dragon slayer's shoulders and flipped him onto his back. "Natsu! What's wrong?" Natsu just screeched and tried to pull free from Gray, but the ice mage held on tighter. "Natsu, I can't help you if you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"Don't touch me!" Natsu screamed still struggling against him. "Don't touch me!"

Gray frowned and stared down at his old friend. "Natsu, you have a fever and you need to get cooled down," he said sternly. "I don't think you you'll appreciate getting your pants soaked in the bathtub." He grabbed onto Natsu's pants and began tugging them off again. Natsu continued to try and resist, but Gray still managed to peel the pants and boxers off of the fire mage. And the second he did the reason behind Natsu's troubling behavior became instantly clear. Gray stared in horror at the blood stains he'd failed to notice earlier. Blood stains and old semen. Gray's eyes raised back up to look at Natsu, who had curled up back into the fetal position, and saw caked blood on the back of the dragon slayer's thighs.

"Natsu," he whispered horrified, and then, without thinking, pulled his old friend into his arms. He held on tightly to the pink haired mage. He ignored Natsu's struggles to get free of his grasp in his desperation to offer any comfort he could. He only held on tighter, one hand stroking through the spiky pink locks on Natsu's head. It was bad enough to have found out that his old friend had been being beaten for three months without him knowing about it, but to find out that this had been done to him, that his old friend had been raped... Gray felt tears streaming down his face. This was his fault. He should have taken measures to prevent this. He could have stopped this from ever occurring. Why hadn't he?!

He lifted Natsu up into his arms and held him close as he carried him to the bathroom. "They're never going to touch you again," he vowed. "I'll keep you safe. I promise." Gently, he placed Natsu into the iced water. The dragon slayer flinched as most of his body was submerged in the freezing water.

"C-cold," he muttered feverishly.

"I know, but it'll help make you feel better," Gray said comfortingly as he placed a cool washcloth over the fire mage's forehead.

"Gray?" a small, sweet feminine voice called out from his bedroom. Beside him Natsu flinched and began to panic, sloshing water onto Gray.

"Hey calm down!" Gray urged grabbing onto Natsu's shoulders to hold him still.

"Gray, are you in the bathroom?" the girl's voice called out again, although this time it sounded closer. Natsu began to thrash around harder.

"Hold on, Mary, I'll be right out," Gray called before turning to Natsu. "Do not move. I'll be right back." He got up and quickly walked into his bedroom, closing the bathroom door behind him. Mary was standing at the foot of his bed carrying a tray with a bowl of beef broth and a cup of water on it. He also saw Natsu's white scarf slung over her arm.

She smiled up at him. "I brought you the food you asked for the prisoner and his scarf," Mary said brightly. "Jerome wasn't happy to give it up but Priest Alok told him he must."

Gray forced a small smile in return and took the tray off the small girl and placed it on his bedside table. "Thank you," he said and turned back to face her.

"I don't mind," she told him laying the scarf on the end of the bed. "But can I ask a question?" Gray hesitated, but nodded his consent. "Why are you going through all the trouble of getting him healthy again? He's just a prisoner." Gray knew he had to be careful here. Mary may seem sweet, but she was far from it. Of all the members of the guild he was the most wary of her. If he showed any sign of compassion for Natsu she would report it to the high priest immediately, and not only would he be punished for it, but Natsu would pay the price for his compassion as well.

He smirked and chuckled slightly. "For what I plan to do to him I need him in top shape," he replied menacingly. "He's so beaten down right now it would be no fun for me to torture him right now. No, I'm going to get him back to strength just so I can bring him back down again."

Mary laughed. "That's pretty evil," she said. "I'll leave you to it then. Good night."

"Good night, Mary," he called after her as he turned back to the bathroom. He was sure she would report back what he said to the rest of the guild. Hopefully, his fellow members would become less suspicious of his motives after hearing that false declaration. He opened the door and was relieved to see Natsu had calmed down. He walked over to the dragon slayer and placed his hand back over his forehead and sighed in relief to feel that his fever had come down. Gray picked up the washcloth he had used to cool Natsu's head before and poured some soap over it before pulling Natsu forward in the tub so he could get his back. Gently, he began to wash the welts that decorated the dragon slayers back. Natsu hissed in pain as the soap went over the few welts that were still open.

"Sorry," Gray apologized, but continued to clean the wounds thoroughly, "but some of these look nasty. They need to be cleaned if you don't want them to get infected." Natsu didn't say anything, just winced as his wounds were taken care of. Gray finally rinsed off the soap suds and handed Natsu the soap and washcloth. "Can you take care of the rest? I need to get some work done." Natsu nodded slightly and took the offered items off the ice mage. Gray walked back to his room and sat down at his desk. He had paperwork he needed to fill out for the high priest. He went on for fifteen minutes before looking back towards his bathroom. Surely, the flame-brain had to be done by now. He got up and walked back to the bathroom and found Natsu standing, dripping wet, outside of the now empty tub. He frowned. Why hadn't he just used his fire to dry himself off?

Gray sighed and grabbed a towel from the rack before approaching the pink haired idiot. "You're done?" he asked and didn't wait for an answer as he rubbed his old comrade dry with the towel. When he'd finished he wrapped Natsu in the towel and led him back onto the bed, laying him down on his stomach. He left him lying there as he began to dig through a bag nearby for his bottle of medicinal salve and gauze. Finding both he walked back to the bed and knelt beside the dragon slayer.

"I'm just going to rub some medicine into your wounds okay?" Gray told his old friend. "It'll help them heal up." Natsu didn't respond, but didn't protest as the ice mage rubbed copious amounts of the salve over the wounds. Gray then wrapped the gauze around the dragon slayer's torso, being careful not to make the bandages too tight. Satisfied that he'd done what he could for Natsu's back he shifted down on the bed and spread the flame-brain's legs apart so he could see the damage that had been done to the boy's anus. However, the second his hand touched the muscular globes of Natsu's ass, the boy began screaming and squirming, clearly desperate to get away.

"Natsu! Hey Natsu!" Gray cried leaning up over the dragon slayer and pinning him down. He stroked his hand comfortingly through Natsu's pink hair. He lowered his head so he could speak softly into the fire mage's ear. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to see if they did any damage. If they have you all torn up down there I'm going to need to put some medicine on the wounds." Natsu was still trembling beneath him. Gray brushed his hand through the pink hair again. "Do you want to lay on your back? That way you can see me." Natsu nodded and Gray carefully rolled the boy onto his back. He shifted back between Natsu's legs and spread them further apart again. Still, Natsu flinched when Gray's finger brushed against his puckered opening.

Gray sighed and, with his free hand, held onto one of Natsu's hands, squeezing it comfortingly as he probed around the flame-brain's asshole. He sighed as he saw that Natsu had quite a few healing and non-healing tears. He looked up at Natsu's face and frowned to see him crying. He squeezed Natsu's hand reassuringly. "You're all torn up down here," he told the fire mage as he squirted more of the medicinal salve onto his fingers. "I'm gonna have to put some medicine on these tears, but I promise it won't hurt. Well, not any more than it has to." He didn't want to promise Natsu it wouldn't hurt at all. Gray was no stranger to ass play. He was bisexual and had fooled around with a few guys over the years. Although, anal fingering was more discomforting than painful, it wasn't completely without pain. And since Natsu's ass was currently in rough shape from the abuse he'd suffered, there would most definitely be pain.

"I'm sorry," Gray whispered as he rubbed the salve around Natsu's hole, taking care of the small tears before gently pressing his finger inside of Natsu. He bit his lip, feeling guilty for the pain he was no doubt causing his old comrade. He didn't want to do this to him. He didn't want to be adding to Natsu's trauma, but he knew if he let these wounds get infected it would be even worse for the dragon slayer. So he continued to press his finger deeper inside Natsu and rubbing the medicine around the walls of the fire mage's rectum, making sure he covered all of the wounds.

"I'm sorry," he kept whispering as Natsu cried. "I'm so sorry." He felt even worse as he felt his dick stir in interest and become semi-erect. How could his body show any interest in this? He scowled and ignored his arousal as he finished up. He got up off the bed and walked into his bathroom and washed his hands. He took his time, giving Natsu some space. When he came back into the bedroom he dug through a dresser's drawer and pulled out one of his sweatpants before helping Natsu after his had been destroyed during a fight he'd had to hold the pants up so they wouldn't fall down past his ass. Natsu had eventually loaned him his scarf to use as a belt until they got back to Magnolia from their mission. Seeing that now Natsu had been starved down enough to be thinner than him reminded him of the food he'd had made for the dragon slayer.

He helped Natsu to a sitting position and placed the tray of food over his lap. The broth was probably cold by now, but it was still better than nothing. Gray watched as Natsu gobbled the beef broth down and gulped down the water. When the flame-brain had finished, Gray took the tray off of him and placed it back on the bedside table before helping Natsu slide under the covers of his bed. Remembering the dragon slayer's scarf, he picked it up from the end of the bed and wrapped it around Natsu's neck where it belonged. Natsu clutched onto it tightly as he curled into the fetal position and closed his eyes. Gray settled in beside the dragon slayer. He ran his fingers through Natsu's hair one last time before closing his eyes. "Goodnight, Natsu," he whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Well here's the second chapter. In response to a review on the last chapter from whisper, I do not plan the stories out, but just let them develop themselves as they go I do not yet know if Natsu as E.N.D will come into play. Currently it is not in my plans, but that could change. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and please review. Thanks for reading.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything from Fairy Tail.

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Gray dreamed he could fly. He had been on a mission that was going wrong. The enemy had chased him to a cliff's edge and were going to kill him. Not wanting his death to be at their hands he'd jumped, but instead of falling he flew. He cried in amazement as he left his enemies behind. He flew high up into the air before diving back down sending ice pellets at the dark mages. He whooped with glee, having defeated them single handedly. He flew higher and higher celebrating his victory. He didn't even notice the feel of the heat burning his back until it was too late. He turned around only to find that he'd flown too high and was about to crash into the sun. He desperately tried to fly down to a lower altitude but no matter what he did he only got closer and closer to the sun. He was going to be burned alive.

Gray jackknifed straight up in bed breathing hard. "What the…?" he murmured glancing around the room on instinct. Nothing seemed amiss, but he knew something was wrong. The room was swelteringly hot. His sheets were plastered to him, soaked through. A moan sounded from beside him and he looked down to see Natsu, paler than a corpse, sweat running like a river over the flame-brain's body.

"Jesus Christ!" Gray exclaimed. "Natsu!" He grabbed the dragon slayer's shoulders and shook him a little, trying to wake him up. Natsu only moaned again, a torturous expression on his face. Gray covered the palms of his hands in ice and placed one on the fire mages forehead while the other roamed over Natsu's torso. But after a minute he gave up. He was clearly not helping Natsu at all. Gray stared at the bandages wrapped around the fire idiot and remembered the welts covering his back. One of them had to be infected.

Carefully, he rolled the fire mage onto his stomach and began to peel back the bandages. His face paled as he saw that the dragon slayer was suffering from infection. One of the largest welts across Natsu's back was leaking a greenish pus. Gray could smell its putrid stench even though his face was a good foot above it. The skin around the welt was red, and inflamed and the welt itself was turning a dead looking black.

"Shit!" Gray hissed hopping off the bed and quickly pulling on his clothes from yesterday, in too big of a hurry to find something clean. He pulled his boots on and then started for the door before stopping and turning around, heading back to Natsu. He sat beside him and ran a cool hand through the spiky pink hair. "I'm going to get a healer for you, okay? You're going to be okay I promise." He looked down at the fire mage for another minute before forcing himself away and running out of the room. He paused long enough to freeze the door's lock shut so no one could get to Natsu before hurrying towards the throne room where the Master would be found.

"Master Arlock!" Gray cried running into the room.

"Ah, Gray," Jerome said sending him a menacing glare. "How is your pet?"

Gray remembered himself then. He couldn't act like he actually cared about Natsu or he wouldn't be allowed to keep him. And then he wouldn't be able to keep the flame-brain safe. He forced himself to remain composed as he answered Jerome. "Sick," he replied. "One of the wounds one of you inflicted upon him has become infected and now I can't have my fun with him."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have waited so long to take an interest in him," Jerome said.

Gray gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to send an ice lance straight for his pompous guild mate. "I've been busy," he growled, and it was true. Gray had been the one to find a new base for their guild. He'd also been the one to clean up the mess his old guild mates had created when they ruined the purification ceremony. He had had very little time for anything in the past three months. _"You had time to save your old friend," _a little voice in the back of his mind chided him. He forced the thought back before turning back to Master Arlock, who had been watching his and Jerome's banter with cold indifference.

"Master Arlock," Gray said making his case. "I can't have any fun with him the way he is now. I'm requesting you for permission to hire a healer from the nearest town to get him back into shape for me to use."

Master Arlock stared at him thoughtfully for a few moments before nodding his head. "I will permit you to do so, but on your own jewels," he granted. "Avatar will not be funding your little pet's health bill."

"But Master Arlock!" Jerome cried. "This is…"

"Shut up, Jerome!" Master Arlock ordered harshly. "If Gray wants his turn with our captive it's only fair. And besides, you were saying just the other day how you'd tired of the fire mage." Jerome scowled but said nothing back. Master Arlock turned back to Gray. "Try to find a healer that won't pose a problem to our guild. Absolutely no healer from an actual hospital."

"Of course not," Gray assured his guild master. "I'll be discreet. Thank you Master." And with that done he rushed out of the guild and into the nearest town. Two hours later he hadn't had any luck. He'd gone to the town's city hall and searched through the town's records to look up all the healers in the town. He'd gone from door to door but the second he mentioned what guild he was from every healer he talked to backed out. They didn't want to get involved with a dark guild. Growing increasingly panicked Gray banged on the door of the last healer he'd marked down.

The door swung open to reveal an angry looking middle aged woman. She had graying brown hair and her violet eyes were glaring daggers at him. "Young man, what is the meaning of all this ruckus?" she asked demandingly.

"Please," Gray begged. "My friend needs help. He has a wound that's seriously infected. It's given him a dangerously high fever. He needs help or I'm afraid he'll die."

The woman sighed. "Where is your friend?" she asked.

Here came the part where all the other healers backed out. "He's in my room at the Avatar guild," he replied quietly.

The woman stared at him silently for a minute before shaking her head. "I don't treat dark wizards," she told him and began to close her door but Gray pushed a leg in the way and forced the door to remain open.

"He's not a dark wizard," he said. "He's our guild's prisoner."

"I thought you said he was your friend," the woman replied frowning.

"We were friends," Gray corrected himself. "We were worked together in the Fairy Tail guild before it disbanded." The woman still looked unmoving. Gray couldn't lose his last chance. "Please. Please, he'll die if he doesn't get help soon."

"Oh fine," the woman sighed giving in. "I'll never get work again in this town once word gets out that I've helped a dark mage, but fine I'll help your friend."

Gray sighed in relief. "Thank you," he said gratefully. The woman grabbed her supplies and then Gray led her to the Avatar guild's building and then directly to his room. He unfroze the lock to let them enter his room. His heart sank at the sight before him. Natsu was thankfully still alive, but in even worse shape than he'd been in only a few hours before. He was obviously still suffering from a fever, but the infection had spread to the other wounds on his back. Pus was dripping down his back and the skin all around the wounds looked dead.

"Natsu!" Gray cried rushing for the bed and running his hand through the pink hair. Natsu didn't show any sign that he had heard him.

"Lord, I'm surprised he's not dead already," the woman whispered shocked at the horrible state of her patient.

Gray looked up at her. "You can help him though, right?" he asked. "You can save him?"

"I can," the woman replied hurrying to set up her stuff. "I hate to make this room any hotter, but I'm afraid the potions I need to cure him will need to be brewed."

"Do you have something to cool down his fever?" Gray questioned desperate for anything that would help the dragon slayer.

The woman glared at him. "Boy, I suggest you don't tell me how to do my job," she snapped. "One of the potions will take care of the fever. You're an ice mage aren't you? Why don't you help him in the mean time?" Gray nodded and turned his full attention on Natsu. Once again he coated his hands in ice and ran them over Natsu's body, avoiding touching the welts on his back. Natsu leaned into Gray's touch. Gray leaned over Natsu and whispered soothing words of comfort into the fire mage's ear. After a half hour the potions were done.

"Get him into a sitting position so I can feed it to him," the woman ordered Gray. He climbed onto the bed and shifted Natsu so that he was resting against his chest. The woman came towards them with a spoonful of her potion. "This'll get rid of the fever while the other takes care of the infection." She fed Natsu a spoonful of each before bottling up the remaining potion. "Put him back on his stomach. I want to inspect those wounds."

Gray did as he was told and carefully turned Natsu onto his stomach. The woman stepped closer and began to clean off the dire mage's back, washing the pus away. Her finger traced the air over one of the welts. "He looks as if he'd been tortured," she said giving Gray a hard look.

Gray hung his head. "My guild mates did it," he spat out before looking back up at the woman. "He's been a prisoner for three months but I only went to check on him yesterday and found him like this." He paused as he watched the woman rub a healing salve over the wounds and inflamed skin. "They beat him." He watched as the wounds and skin instantly healed. "They raped him too."

The woman looked up abruptly and opened her mouth to say something when a small whisper broke through the room. "Gray?"

Gray glanced down to see Natsu looking tiredly up at him. "Natsu!" he cried kneeling down beside the bed so he was eye level with the flame-brain. He ran his fingers through Natsu's hair again. "Hey, you're okay now. I got someone to help you." Natsu just nodded tiredly, too exhausted to speak. Gray looked back up at the woman.

"If they raped him there could be damage to his…"

"There is," Gray said interrupting her. "I put a medicinal salve on it last night like I did to the wounds on his back, but since they got infected still…" He let his sentence trail off.

The woman nodded her head. "I'd better put this salve on those wounds too," she said, but the instant her hand reached down to touch the dragon slayer, Natsu freaked out.

"Don't touch me!" he shouted violently thrashing around. "Please! Stop! Stop, I'm begging you! Please stop!"

Gray felt his heart split in two inside his chest as he grabbed onto Natsu. "Hey, no one's going to hurt you," he tried to assure his old friend. He ran his hand soothingly up and down the fire mage's now healed back. "Okay? No one's here to hurt you. She wants to help you Natsu. If one of your wounds down there is infected you'll get sick again."

Natsu stared at him, tears streaming from those squinty eyes. "Gray, don't let her touch me," he said hiccupping back sobs.

"Natsu, I…" his words were cut off by the woman placing the healing salve down next to him.

"I'll leave it with you," she told him. "He knows you. He knows he's safe with you. That salve will instantly heal any wound he might have as you just saw, so be thorough."

He nodded his head and stood up. "Thank you Ms.?" He questioned just now realizing he didn't know her name. Although, her address had been listed in the records her name had been absent.

The woman snorted. "I don't give my name to dark mages," she answered bluntly. "Now pay up so I can be on my way." Gray dug through his back and came up with a generous sum of money to give to the woman. She glanced down at the large bag of jewels. "Boy, even a healer from some pristine hospital wouldn't charge this much for the service I just provided. What kind of idiot pays more than required?"

"A grateful one," Gray replied in a tone that clearly showed he would not take any of the money back.

The woman shook her head. "I really don't know what to make of you," she scoffed. "Don't need my help again." The woman left with the jewels and Gray turned back to Natsu, picking up the medicine the woman had left. Natsu let him use the salve, although he cried through the treatment. Gray showered after treating Natsu, partly because he hadn't had a chance to that morning and partly to give Natsu some space. After, showering he went to the guild's kitchen and made them some dinner.

Gray was concerned when Natsu only picked at the food he'd given him. He'd had to force Natsu to finish. When a few more hours had passed with Natsu just lying silently in bed Gray couldn't take it anymore. He sat down on his side of the bed and stared down at the pink haired idiot. "You have to be dying to talk, Natsu," Gray said. "How long has it been since you've had a real conversation? What's keeping you silent?"

He was surprised when Natsu glared up at him. "I have nothing to say to you," he replied harshly turning away from Gray.

Gray's eyes widened in surprise. "What? What did I do?" he asked. Natsu didn't answer and Gray felt a twinge of anger flash over him. "I just saved your life, Natsu."

Natsu turned back towards Gray. "You should have just let me die," he cried.

Gray's anger quickly faded away with those words, replaced by sadness. "Natsu," he murmured reaching a hand out to comfort his old friend, but Natsu just pulled away.

"I wanted to die," Natsu whispered. Gray wasn't sure he'd been meant to hear those words, but they startled him. Natsu had never been like this before. He wasn't the defeatist type. Gray was so startled by Natsu's revelation that he almost missed the next part of Natsu's speech. "Maybe then I'd have gotten to be with Happy and Lucy."

Gray's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Natsu stared up at him. "You don't know, do you?" he replied. "You're new friends never told you." Gray opened his mouth to tell this flame idiot that his new guild mates were not his friends but Natsu didn't give him the chance. "Lucy and Happy are dead."

Gray froze in horror, and then shook his head. "No, we let them go," he told Natsu. "I watched them walk off. Why do you think they're dead?"

"That Jerome guy told me," Natsu replied looking scared at just the thought of the dark mage.

Gray smiled. "Jerome's an ass," he said. "He just told you that to upset you. Lucy and Happy aren't dead. I bet they've gotten at least half of Fairy Tail back together by now." He could tell by the look on Natsu's face that he still didn't believe him. He sighed. "Would it make you feel better if I hired someone to track the two down so you know they're not dead?"

Natsu stared at him for a few seconds longer before replying. "I'm not the one you're trying to make feel better," he said before rolling away from Gray again. Gray blinked in surprise and stared at Natsu's back for a few moments before giving up on talking to the flame-brain. He went to his desk and did paperwork for another hour before deciding to call it a night. Natsu was already asleep as he crawled in beside him and shut off the lights. He'd hire someone to track down Happy and Lucy tomorrow and prove Natsu was wrong and he was right. But as he settled into bed he couldn't help but remember that he'd been wrong to think his guild mates would harm Natsu while they held him prisoner. And then wondered if what Natsu said was right.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Here's the third chapter up, and I hope you all enjoy. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Whisper, your welcome. I try to respond to all reviews.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing from Fairy Tail.

* * *

It had been a week since Gray found Natsu in such a poor condition, and, other than his healed wounds, there really wasn't much improvement. Gray was beyond worried for his old friend. Natsu had always been so resilient he'd expected him to bounce back a little by now, but he didn't see any trace of the old Natsu in this shell of a body that sat quietly in his room all day. This Natsu was nothing like the old one, and Gray didn't know what to do for him.

Neither of the two were sleeping. Natsu had nightmares every night. If his thrashing around didn't wake Gray up, his screams did. Gray spent most of his nights trying to calm Natsu down. He considered it a good night if he could get Natsu back to sleep in under an hour, but most nights he had to spend hours calming him down. When Gray had brought Natsu in to his room and placed him in his bed, he'd thought nothing of it. It wasn't the first time the two had shared a bed. Sometimes on missions they would share if they didn't have the money for two rooms and the team had to bunk together. Natsu's loud snoring and thrashing around had always been annoying and caused them to bicker, but it had never been that big of a deal.

Now, Gray was wishing he could find Natsu another place to sleep. He knew he had to keep Natsu in his room for protection, but he'd thought about getting the flame-brain a cot. Sure, it would take up all his floor space, but at least it would cease the growing awkwardness that sharing a bed had become. Natsu only seemed to calm down with the aid of physical contact. Most nights now Gray ended up spooned against Natsu, his arms wrapped tight around the fire mage. It was the only way to get Natsu to sleep after his nightmares, but it posed a few problems for Gray. The biggest issue was his tendency to wake up with an erection in the morning. No big deal when he woke up alone, but embarrassing when he woke up pressed against Natsu. The bigger concern for that issue was that if Natsu ever noticed he might get scared and freak out. Gray made sure to untangle himself from Natsu before he woke up.

Mostly, though it was just awkward for Gray. The two of them had always been rivals. If Natsu was himself right now he'd be outraged to wake up in Gray's arms. Gray worried that when Natsu bounced back, he refused to think if, that Natsu would be ashamed of himself. He knew that Natsu would hate him for treating him like he was fragile, but at the moment that was all Gray could do. So he didn't protest when Natsu curled up against his chest at night after a nightmare. He just pulled him in tighter and whispered soothing words into his ear until the pinkette fell back to sleep.

Still, the sleeping was the last of his concerns. Natsu still wasn't eating much. Gray brought him three meals a day, but Natsu never seemed to show much interest in whatever Gray brought him. Half the time Gray had to force feed him. At one point he'd even stooped to begging. In the end he always managed to get Natsu to take a few bites out of something, but his lack of an appetite disturbed Gray more than anything else. The Natsu he'd known would eat practically anything. Gray had expected Natsu to be thrilled with the prospect of having regular meals again, but that just hadn't been the case. It was very frustrating for Gray. The day after the healer had saved Natsu, Gray used his maker magic to create a scale so he could weigh Natsu. He'd known the boy had lost quite a bit of weight since being held prisoner, but he'd been shocked when the scale read 122 pounds.

He knew Natsu weighed in at 165 pounds at his peak. That meant he'd lost over forty pounds. Gray had weighed Natsu every day after that. Once in the morning and again at night. In one week he'd only managed to gain back two pounds. Gray was beyond frustrated. He didn't know how to get Natsu interested in food again. He'd even tried to get the flame-brain to eat some fire from a candlestick, but Natsu hadn't even looked directly at the flame. And this led to a different issue entirely.

Natsu hadn't used his magic once since he'd been with Gray. It had taken a bit for Gray to notice but the extra towels in his laundry basket. Natsu had never used towels. He'd always just used his flames to dry off. Now, it wasn't dangerous for a wizard to not use his magic, but Gray new from experience that it was uncomfortable. Magic flowed through their veins like blood. It pulsed. It wanted to be used. It was rare for a wizard to ignore that urge. And it was very chilling that Natsu, of all people, had stopped using it. Gray didn't know if there was a problem that was preventing Natsu from using it, or if Natsu was just choosing not to use it. He supposed he could just ask, but Natsu wasn't talking. He hadn't said a word since he told Gray that Lucy and Happy are dead.

Gray had tried continually throughout the week to get the fire mage talking. He'd spouted on about old missions and memories of their old guild. Nothing. He asked Natsu what he'd done in the past year. Nothing. In desperation, he even told Natsu some of the things he'd done since Fairy Tail disbanded. That time he wasn't surprised when he didn't get any response. All day Natsu sat in bed only getting up to use the bathroom. When Gray gave up getting a response out of him he'd spend the day going over paperwork for the guild and subtly watching Natsu.

Today though, Gray couldn't focus on the paperwork. He sighed and tossed his pen aside and then looked back at Natsu. The flame-brain was staring ahead blankly, not seeming to be seeing anything. Gray sighed walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. "Natsu," he said. Natsu didn't even turn his head towards him. Gray sighed again, but pushed on. "Natsu, I'm going into town." That got a reaction, but not one that Gray had hoped for. Natsu turned towards him, eyes widening in fear. His whole body was trembling as he shook his head back and forth, a silent pleading for Gray not to go.

"Hey! Hey!" Gray cried gripping onto Natsu's shoulders, trying to calm him down. "No one's going to get in here. I'll freeze the lock shut behind me. You'll be safe. But I have to go into town. I need to get a few supplies for the guild, and…I was going to get you some clothes of your own so you don't have to borrow mine every day." He watched as Natsu slowly calmed down, but the pinkette still looked nervous. Gray was worried about leaving now. What if Natsu had a panic attack while he was gone? What if he used his magic to knock down the door and try and come after him? If Natsu got out of the room he'd fall into the hands of Gray's guild mates. The thought made Gray shudder. He couldn't leave Natsu without making sure the boy would be okay.

"Natsu, I need to know you'll be okay here alone," Gray said. "I'll be back in three hours. I want you to stay right here, okay? No leaving this bed. Do you understand?" He waited for a few seconds before Natsu nodded his head. Gray smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder, before standing up and gathering his jewels. He looked back at Natsu before leaving the room. "I'll only be gone a couple of hours." Still, he couldn't help but feel guilty as he froze the lock and walked out of the guild, the picture of Natsu staring anxiously after him fresh in his mind.

Three hours later Gray had the supplies he needed and the clothes for Natsu. Both had taken more time than he'd anticipated and he was already going to be back later than he'd promised Natsu, but there was something else he really wanted to get done. He bit his lip and debated over it. He didn't expect the task would take long, and it would be for Natsu's benefit, but he was worried about Natsu being alone for so long. Finally, though, he decided to go ahead with his plans. He didn't know when he'd be able to head into town again, and he wanted to get this done. It was important. Gray walked hurriedly through town, until he came upon a brick building. The building held office spaces for lawyers and accountants and such like that. There was also a private investigator the held an office in the building. That's who Gray had come to see.

He walked into the building and read a sign to determine what office number he needed to go to. His eyes landed on the PI's name quickly, Frank Kent: Office 224B. He rushed up the stairs. Frank Kent had quite the reputation as a private investigator. He always closed his cases. Of course, it helped that he was a wizard. He used telepathy magic, similar to Warren, but unlike Warren, Frank needed to have physical contact with something belonging to the person whose mind he was trying to read. His ability came in handy for his line of work, and Gray was positive that he'd be able to hunt Lucy and Happy down.

Gray quickly reached Frank Kent's office and knocked on the door. "Come in," a deep voice called. Gray pushed open the door and stepped into the office, his eyes immediately landing on the PI. Frank Kent was an intimidating looking man. He was a big man, broad shouldered and muscular. And tall on top of it. He looked too big to be allowed. His greying, blonde hair reached his shoulders. He had a square jaw, covered in a permanent five o'clock shadow. He had stern grey eyes. His nose had obviously been broken more than once. Gray suddenly felt a little nervous under the private investigator's searching stare.

"Are you just going to stand there and ogle at me or did you come here for a reason?" Frank asked impatiently.

Gray gulped an immediately sat down in the chair across from Frank. "I'm looking for someone," he said.

Frank snorted. "Yeah? Ain't we all," he replied taking out a pocket knife and using it to scrape dirt from beneath his nails.

Gray watched the knife nervously as he continued. "Actually, I'm looking for two people," Gray corrected himself.

Frank looked up at him. "You gonna tell me who, kid?" he asked putting his pocket knife away.

"What? Oh yeah," Gray replied rushing to pull a picture he'd stuffed into his pocket earlier out, and then handing it to Frank. "The girl's name is Lucy Heartfilia. The cat is Happy."

Frank inspected the picture carefully. "I don't suppose you have anything that belongs to them on you?" he questioned. "This picture is yours. It's your thoughts I'm reading right now. You came to me because you're doubting your own judgement."

Gray frowned. "I came to you because I want to show an old friend of mine that his friends are fine," he retorted.

Frank chuckled darkly. "You keep telling yourself that," he said, and then tucked the photo of Happy and Lucy into a desk drawer. "I'll track your old friends down. I have a flat fee of 150 jewels. The rest is an hourly charge of 45 jewels. I'll keep track of the hours. Don't worry about a mileage fee. I ain't here to suck people dry like some of the lawyers in this building. I'll call you once a week with updates."

Gray nodded his agreement and handed over the flat fee and a piece of paper with his lacrima communicator's number on it. "Thank you," he replied and stood to get up.

Frank nodded his head. "You better get back to your boy," he told Gray. "I could tell by your thoughts that you're worried about him." Gray didn't respond, just rushed out of the building and back to his guild.

Gray handed the supplies over to Master Arlock before rushing back to his room, fully aware that he'd been gone for four hours. He quickly unfroze the lock and burst into his room only to find Natsu in a full blown panic attack. The fire mage was curled into fetal position on the bed, trembling violently. Gray could hear his struggled gasps for air. "Shit!" he hissed throwing the bags of clothes down on the floor and rushing to Natsu's aid. He pulled the fire mage into a sitting position and held onto both sides of his face, forcing the pinkette to look at him.

"Natsu, calm down. I'm back," Gray said. "You're okay! You're okay!"

"You-You said thr-three hours," Natsu cried choking on too much air.

"I know. I'm sorry. I had to make an extra stop," Gray explained pulling Natsu into a hug, and running a hand soothingly up and down his back. "I'm sorry."

"I-I didn't know where you w-were or if you were c-coming back," Natsu sniffed, still struggling to breathe.

Gray smiled gently at those words. He pushed Natsu back so he could look into his eyes. "I'll always come back," he promised. Natsu calmed down enough so he could breathe again. "Are you alright now?" Natsu nodded his head. "Okay. Then I'm just gonna put your clothes away." Gray cleared the top drawer of the dresser for Natsu's new clothes, before turning back to the flame-brain, who'd gone back to staring emptily at the wall. Gray walked back towards him and sat next to him.

"I hired a private investigator to find Happy and Lucy," Gray said watching Natsu closely. He sighed when he saw a tear drop and begin to trickle down the fire mage's cheek. "Oh Natsu." He pulled Natsu into his arms brushed a hand through the spiky pink locks. "It's gonna be okay. He'll find Happy and Lucy."

Natsu shook his head. "No he won't," he cried. "Luce and Happy are both dead."

"They're not!" Gray cried frustrated. "Natsu, I watched them walk out of the old guild hall. They're fine." Natsu just shook his head again, and Gray felt a spark of anger flash over him. He pushed Natsu away harshly. A surprised Natsu stared up at him in surprise.

"Why do you believe Jerome over me?!" Gray yelled angrily. "Why would I lie to you? Dammit, Natsu, we were comrades!"

To his shock Natsu's face twisted into a scowl. "Were is the key word in that sentence," he spat. "The Gray I know wouldn't have joined a dark guild. Ever."

Gray's anger faded away in his shock, and his shoulders slumped in shame. "It's not as simple as that," he replied quietly. "I didn't join this guild because I worship Zeref."

"Then why did you join?" Natsu asked.

Gray's eyes hardened. "For revenge," he answered.

Natsu's eyes widened. "I don't get it," he replied.

Gray sighed. "Natsu, Zeref's demon Deliora killed my family. It killed my entire town," Gray said. "Delioa's the reason my master, Ur, is gone. And then my father got reincarnated into a zombie by the Tartarus Guild."

"I know all that," Natsu replied.

"Yeah? Well then I don't see what's there to not understand," Gray retorted.

"That except for the thing with your dad, that all happened years ago, and you never wanted to join a dark guild for revenge before," Natsu said. "What changed?"

"My magic," Gray replied. "My father gave me his devil slaying magic so I could defeat Zeref's most dangerous demon, E.N.D."

"But even Igneel couldn't defeat E.N.D," Natsu pointed out.

"With all respect to Igneel," Gray said, "he just didn't have the right type of magic. Devil slaying magic is designed to kill demons. As far as I know, I'm the only one who can take this demon down. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

Natsu stared at him for a few moments before rolling over to face away from him. "You really have changed," he replied. Gray frowned and looked down at bedspread. Natsu was right. He had changed. But he had to if he wanted to defeat E.N.D. He got up from the bed and went back to his paperwork. He took one last glance at Natsu, whose back was towards him, before picking up where he left off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **This chapter is shorter than my other's since it's more of a filler. It was actually supposed to be art of the last chapter, but I was worried it was too long. However, I realized I should have kept it in so I wrote it up and it's standing as its own chapter. I hope you enjoy the bonus chapter and please leave a review.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything from Fairy Tail.

* * *

Natsu had gone back to giving Gray the silent treatment. This time Gray didn't try to pull the flame-brain out of himself, knowing he would talk when he wanted to. So for the past four days he'd done nothing but paperwork, a tedious task. Tomorrow he'd have to find something else to do so he wouldn't be driven mad, but in the current moment he was focused on filing Jerome's last mission. He was so focused on the paperwork that when Natsu finally did speak he nearly tumbled out of the chair.

"How did you get stuck doing paper work?" Natsu asked. Gray managed to catch himself and turn to stare at the fire mage, but couldn't get the words out to answer his question. Natsu must have mistook his silence for misunderstanding because he pressed on with the issue. "I mean, shouldn't that be your guild master's job. Gramps always did Fairy Tail's paperwork. How did you get stuck doing it here?" Still, Gray couldn't get the air of his throat to form a sentence. His mouth just kept opening and closing like a fish out of water. He watched as Natsu's face twisted into an expression of annoyance. "Hey Ice Princess, did you freeze your brain or something? Answer the question."

The use of the old insult shook Gray out of his stupor and he bit back a smile as he answered. "Master Arlock spends most of his day praying," Gray replied continuing to stare at Natsu. "He doesn't have the time for paperwork."

"And you're the only one in this damn guild that's capable of doing it?" Natsu asked.

"I do the paperwork to remain in favor," Gray told him. "And doing the paperwork gets me privileges. Like being able to keep you up here."

He thought would send Natsu right back into silence, but to his surprise the fire mage continued questioning him. "What's up with your hair?" Natsu questioned.

"What about it?" Gray asked confused.

"It's an odd look for you," Natsu replied. "It kinda makes you look like a douchebag."

Gray's eye twitched. "Did you start talking again just to insult me?" he snapped.

"No," Natsu replied seriously before a large smile lit up his face. "But if my questions are annoying you I can consider it a bonus."

"Che," Gray scoffed standing up from his desk chair and plopping down on the bed next to Natsu. His scowl dropped at seeing the happy look on the flame-brain's face and he felt a small smile of his own grace his lips. "Fire away then."

"Don't have to ask me twice," Natsu said. "You're an idiot Gray! Joining a dark guild just to get revenge. You should have gone to someone in the guild for help. Fairy Tail would have supported you."

"I wanted to leave you all out of it," Gray replied. "And the guild disbanded, you ash for brains."

Natsu suddenly looked sad again. "Yeah, I found that out already," he murmured sadly. "I was looking forward to seeing you all again after a year apart, and Lucy told me Makarov disbanded the guild." Silence filled the room for a second.

"That must have been a nasty shock," Gray finally said.

Natsu nodded. "If I had known the guild was going to disband…" he cut off the sentence staring morosely ahead.

Gray laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey," he said shaking Natsu out of his reverie. "You couldn't possibly have known that. We were all surprised."

"Why didn't you all stay together?" Natsu asked.

"Well, that was the plan at first," Gray told him. "But it didn't work the way it does when you're in a guild. Everyone eventually started going their own way."

"And your own way led you to a dark guild?" Natsu replied. "That was the first thing you thought to do?"

"My first thought was to go after you," Gray cried.

Natsu stared at him shocked. "What?" he exclaimed.

Gray nodded his head. "I thought someone should tell you Fairy Tail had disbanded," Gray said. "And I thought maybe you could help me find E.N.D. But Lucy said you didn't want anyone to go after you. She said you wanted to be alone."

Natsu hung his head. "She was mad at me when I came back," he sighed. "I think she took my leaving for training as abandonment."

"She had feelings for you, Natsu," Gray replied. "I think you leaving broke her heart."

"Yeah, well I'm not the only one guilty of breaking someone's heart," Natsu said.

Gray gave him a puzzled look. "Care to add more to that?" he asked.

Natsu gave him a hard look. "Juvia," Natsu replied. "You lived with Juvia for a few months before joining this guild, didn't you?"

"How did you know that?" Gray asked surprised.

"She told us," Natsu answered. "When we found her she told us you'd lived together for half a year, and…"

"Who's we?" Gray interrupted.

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Me, Luce, Happy, Wendy, and Carla," he replied.

"Wendy and Carla were with you too?" Gray questioned. "Why didn't they come with you to find me?"

"Because Wendy was trying to cure, Juvia," Natsu responded. "She's sick thanks to you. How could you do that to her, Gray? You know how she feels about you."

Gray closed his eyes and sighed. "I didn't mean for her to get sick," he said he then chuckled darkly. "I didn't mean for us to live together either. She followed me when I left Magnolia and I didn't want to tell her to get lost. I know how she feels about me, but I've never returned those feelings. And besides, you're one to talk. You left Lucy, too."

"To train!" Natsu cried. "I was always going to come back! And how is me leaving Lucy the same as you leaving Juvia?"

"Lucy likes you!" Gray exclaimed. "Man, I thought you two were dating actually. You spent all of your time together."

"Lucy's like my sister," Natsu replied. "I've never felt any romantic love for Lucy. Besides I'm not into girls. I like…"

Gray stared at Natsu in shock. "What did you say?" he asked.

Natsu blushed the same color as his hair and looked anywhere but at Gray. "Just forget I said anything," he muttered.

Gray wasn't having that though. He grabbed Natsu by his shoulders and forced him to look at him. "Natsu, are you gay?" he asked seriously.

Natsu's cheeks burned even redder. "Just let it go alright?" he snapped. "I didn't mean to say anything."

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this? Just answer the question. Are you gay?" Gray asked pushing Natsu down on the mattress and pinning him so he couldn't escape. It was a bad idea. Immediately, he saw panic rise up in Natsu's eyes and then the fire mage began to thrash underneath his trying to get away. Gray immediately sat up.

"Hey! It's okay, Natsu!" Gray cried. "I wasn't going to hurt you."

Natsu slowly calmed down and sat back up. "S'Okay," he murmured softly. They sat in silence for a while. Finally, Natsu broke it. "Yeah, I'm gay alright? You got a problem with it?"

"No," Gray told him. "I mean, I'd be pretty hypocritical if I did. I like both genders so…"

"You can like both?" Natsu asked.

Gray rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Natsu, you can like both," he said. "It's called being bisexual."

"Oh," Natsu replied resting his chin on his knees. "I think I only like guys. Girls just don't do it for me."

"That's fine," Gray told him. "How come you never told me about this before?"

"Well, a lot of people don't like gays, right?" Natsu replied. "I mean, one time these guys caught me checking some guy out and they attacked me."

"What?" Gray cried.

"Hey, don't worry," Natsu said. "I beat the ever loving snot out of them, but that also made me realize I couldn't tell everyone. If I did and Gramps didn't like it he could've kicked me out." Gray bonked Natsu lightly on the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"For being an idiot!" Gray cried. "Gramps, wouldn't have kicked you out for being gay, and no one else would've had a problem with it either. We were your family."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Natsu admitted rubbing his head.

"You're damn right I'm right," Gray replied, and then smiled wickedly. "So if you're into guys then who did you have a crush on in Fairy Tail?"

"None of your business, Popsicle!" Natsu cried.

"Oh, c'mon, you can tell me. Was it Laxus? Gildarts?" Gray asked, but Natsu shook his head at both names. "Loke? Everyone has a crush on Loke. I did when he first showed up at the guild."

"No, I didn't have a thing for Loke," Natsu replied. "And really? You had the hots for him?"

"So what if I did?" Gray questioned. "It's not like I had a thing for Elfman or…" He cut himself off as Natsu blushed scarlet at Elfman's name. Gray's jaw dropped open. "No way! Elfman?! You had a thing for Elfman?!"

"Shut up!" Natsu snapped. "It was like two years ago, anyway. I'm over it."

"Yeah, but…Oh man, I wouldn't want him topping me. Ouch," Gray laughed.

Natsu glared at him. "What makes you think he'd be the seme?" he asked.

Gray raised his eyebrows. "Oh? You wanted to top?" he teased.

"Shut up!" Natsu cried, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. "I never wanted to be the bottom. Bottoming…hurts."

Gray suddenly grew solemn as Natsu's words sunk in. He watched in growing concern as Natsu's lips began to quiver. "Natsu, what you've experienced…it…"

"It hurts!" Natsu repeated.

Gray shook his head. "I know they hurt you, but bottoming doesn't have to mean horrific pain," he told him. "If it's consensual and the person bottoming is prepped properly then it really doesn't hurt that bad. It's more uncomfortable than anything. It's…" He cut off as he saw a tear run down Natsu's cheek. "Natsu." Sighing, Gray pulled Natsu so the fire mage's back was leaning against his chest. Gray wrapped his arms around Natsu's torso and rested his chin on the flame-brain's shoulder and let Natsu cry. He held him like that until the pinkette had cried himself to sleep. Gray eased out from under him and turned off all the lights before climbing back in beside Natsu. He wrapped an arm around his old friend's waist and pulled him in tight against him. One day he hoped Natsu would get past his trauma and want to try sex again. Gray refused to wonder about just why he wanted that outcome. Instead, he just pressed up closer to the fire mage and let the heat radiating off his friend lull him to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Another short chapter. This was actually supposed to be much longer but it just felt done to me. I promise next chapter will be longer. And full of angst. Be warned. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, short as it may be, and please leave a review.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing from Fairy Tail.

* * *

After Natsu started talking again he didn't stop. Gray would spend hour after hour answering Natsu's questions while filing paperwork. They talked about most anything, and sometimes about nothing. They discussed old adventures and their childhood. One day they even analyzed their rivalry. Gray had admitted to Natsu that he'd been jealous of the way happiness came easy to him and his ability to learn new spells so quickly. Natsu had admitted to him that he'd felt pressured to grow stronger throughout the years because someone had told him he wasn't as good as Gray.

Gray had laughed more in the past few days than he had sine Fairy Tail's war against Tartaros. He was relieved, too, that Natsu was speaking again. He was even more relieved that Natsu was eating again. Gray didn't have to force him into eating any meals, and Natsu usually finished the entire plate. When Gray weighed him at the end of the week he was pleased to see that the fire mage had gained seven pounds.

Still, Natsu wasn't completely back to his old self. He still had nightmares, and at times would grow sullen and distant. He still wasn't using his magic. Gray kept a close eye on him, looking for any sign that something was off, but to him it just seemed Natsu didn't want to use it. He had tried talking to the flame-brain about it, but Natsu shut down the conversation any time he brought it up and Gray eventually backed off.

Natsu wasn't only touchy about using his magic, though. He outright refused to talk about Happy and Lucy. Even when they reminisced about past missions Natsu left those two out of the conversation. He also wouldn't listen to the reports Frank Kent sent. Gray didn't push Natsu to talk about them, unwilling to cause Natsu anymore stress. As it were, the reports had nothing to say in them. Frank Kent hadn't been able to locate them yet. The last report he'd read had actually warned him for bad news. The private investigator was concerned that his telepathy wasn't getting any new memories from Lucy or Happy, just things that had happened in the past. He told Gray to be concerned.

Gray had just opened another file to report when a quiet voice spoke from behind him. "Are you almost done, Gray?"

Gray looked over his shoulder and saw Natsu kneeling on the bed, already in his pajama pants. For whatever reason the sight made Gray's cock twitch in interest. He flushed and glanced away from Natsu thinking of anything else in an attempt to prevent an embarrassing situation. When he felt he was in control of himself he looked back at Natsu. "Almost," he answered him smiling. "Why? Are you tired?"

Natsu nodded his head sheepishly. "I'm sorry," he murmured.

"No. Don't worry about it," Gray assured him, putting his paperwork aside. "It's nothing that can't wait until morning." Gray ditched his pants, he'd already lost his shirt at some point, and crawled into bed with Natsu. This was a new development of Natsu's. The flame-brain was not able to fall asleep unless Gray was right next to him. Gray didn't really mind too much. It was certainly better than what he had feared. He had expected Natsu, when he started feeling more like his old self, to be freaked out or embarrassed to be sharing a bed. He had half expected to wind up letting Natsu have the bed and sleeping on the floor. But that hadn't been the case. When he'd made the suggestion to Natsu once it was clear that the fire idiot was keeping his voice, Natsu had nearly panicked and begged Gray to stay in bed with him. Gray had gotten used to keeping Natsu comfortable by now. And except for some awkward mornings, it wasn't too bad. Gray had grown accustomed to the heat that radiated off Natsu to the point where it barely bothered him. All in all, they had a pretty comfortable arrangement.

"Good night, Gray," Natsu mumbled sleepily.

Gray smiled down at Natsu. "Good night, Natsu," he replied, and settled in for the night.

Gray blinked awake to a dark room. He stifled a groan and pushed himself onto his elbows, his head turning to look down at Natsu. The pinkette was rolling around, thrashing in his sleep. His face was a taut grimace. Gray sighed, knowing the fire mage was in the midst of a nightmare. It was a whimper that charged Gray into action. Gently, he carded his fingers through Natsu's hair while his other hand shook his shoulder lightly.

"Natsu," he said in a loud whisper. "Natsu, wake up."

Slowly, Natsu came around to consciousness. His olive green eyes opening reluctantly and staring dolefully up at Gray. "Sorry," he murmured.

Gray didn't stop running his hand through Natsu's hair, knowing the other boy liked the physical contact when he woke up from his nightmares. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. Natsu shook his head frantically, like he did every time Gray asked that question, and pulled away from his reach. Gray normally backed off and soothed Natsu until he fell back to sleep. But tonight, he was filled with the need to know what Natsu was dreaming about. He had a slight idea. "You're nightmares…they're memories, right? You're reliving what they did to you."

Natsu shot him a terrified look. "Gray, don't…"

"I need to know what they did to you, Natsu," Gray said.

"You know what they did," Natsu replied quietly.

Gray nodded. "I want you to tell me everything you can," he went on as if Natsu had not responded. "It might make you feel better to get it all out." He didn't know why he was pushing the issue. Part of him thought maybe it would help Natsu move past this, but another part was hoping what actually happened wasn't as bad as he'd been imagining it.

"Gray…" Natsu said hesitantly.

"Only what you can tell me," Gray assured him, holding his hand out towards Natsu.

Slowly, Natsu grabbed onto and sidled closer to Gray so that their shoulders were almost touching. The fire mage wasn't looking at him, though. His gaze was transfixed on the opposite wall. "It didn't start right away," he told him. "I was captive for three weeks before it began."

"So after we moved to the new location," Gray muttered.

Natsu nodded his head. "Shortly after," he said. "I tried to escape in route. I think that's why it began. They wanted to teach me a lesson." Gray sucked in a breath but didn't say anything as Natsu continued. "It was just torture at first. That big guy…"

"Goumon," Gray supplied.

"Goumon," Natsu repeated the name, shivering slightly. "He came to my cell pulling along some table. It was full of weird devices. I didn't know what they were for, but he made sure I found out. He used to tell me what they were for before he used them on me." Natsu paused, gulping down a sob. "I used to think that was the worst thing that could ever be done to me. Especially, the whip, but I was wrong."

"You mean because he raped you?" Gray asked, but he knew the answer.

"He didn't start that," Natsu replied.

Gray whipped his head around to look at Natsu. "What do you mean he didn't start that?" he questioned.

Natsu squirmed under Gray's gaze but continued. "I mean, that he wasn't the one who raped me. Well, not the first one," he whispered.

"Who then?" Gray asked. Natsu bit his lip, and shook his head, his fists clenching and unclenching. Gray wasn't having it though. He needed to know. "Natsu, tell me."

"The blonde guy," Natsu murmured. "The good looking one…Jerome." Gray gritted his teeth, but didn't say anything as Natsu went on. "He came down one day while Goumon was torturing me. He said he wasn't doing it right. That pissed Goumon off. I thought I'd get lucky. That whey would start fighting and forget about me, but Jerome said he'd show Goumon how to torture me correctly. He unchained me from the wall and stripped off my pants and…"

"You don't have to tell me that part," Gray said suddenly not wanting to hear any details. He squeezed Natsu's hand that he was still holding to offer some comfort. "Not if you don't want to."

Natsu nodded his head, but then shook his head and took a deep breath. "I tried to use my magic on him," he whispered. "The chains were off so I could use it. I managed to burn him too, but then he put his sword to my throat and said if I didn't want to die to stop fighting him. So I let me rape me."

"Natsu," Gray murmured. "You didn't let…"

"It hurt," Natsu said cutting Gray off. "More than any torture device Goumon used on me. I thought he was going to split me in two." The fire mage sniffled. "When he was done he told Goumon to show him what he learned, and he raped me too. He only did it that one time though. He didn't like it."

Gray clenched his eyes shut but nodded. "I should have known it was Jerome who started it," he sighed, and opened his eyes to look at Natsu. "That wasn't the only time it happened though, was it?"

Natsu shook his head. "It was every day," he choked, eyes swimming with tears. "He raped me every day. The worst was when he brought that small girl. She'd make my stomach feel like I was on a train and then she'd…The only thing worse than having Jerome inside me was being forced to be inside her."

Gray pulled Natsu into his arms after that, and the fire mage immediately broke down. Gray felt disgust course through him. A deep loathing of his current guild mates seated deep within his core. He rubbed his hand soothingly over Natsu's back until the sobs quieted down. "If I had known what was going on," he whispered into Natsu's ear, "I would have taken you and left. I'm sorry I didn't come to check on you sooner."

Natsu's bloodshot eyes peered up at him. "Why did you come down to see me when you did?" he asked.

Gray leaned down and planted a kiss to Natsu's forehead. "Because I missed you," he replied. It wasn't the truth, but he realized now it wasn't a lie either. After all, in the weeks since he'd rescued the fire mage he'd done nothing but try and get him back to his old self. He realized now that his effort was because he missed hanging out with Natsu. Gray wanted his best friend back.

His reply made Natsu smile. "I missed you too," he yawned sleepily and nuzzled into Gray's neck. "By the way, you didn't have to kiss me."

Gray blushed. "Sorry," he mumbled. "It was just kind of an instinct."

"You've got weird instincts, ice princess," Natsu slurred.

"Yeah? Well, since you're gaga for dicks I think you're the princess, Flame-brain," Gray teased.

"Am not, Droopy Eyes," Natsu shot back before falling asleep shortly after. Gray kept an arm wrapped around his old friend and closed his own eyes, hoping to recapture sleep. His mind kept racing though. Yes, he had missed his best friend. He liked spending time with Natsu. But he couldn't ignore the fact that whenever Natsu touched him now he made his heart skip a beat, and a send a spark of desire straight to his dick. He thought about the kiss to Natsu's forehead just now and wondered if maybe his feelings had changed toward the fire mage. Despite his confusion, Gray managed to fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Whoa! Pumped this out in one day so there's probably a few mistakes. I apologize but I wanted to get this chapter out for this story before October hits. As usual I hope you enjoy the story and please leave a review. Just a small warning...This chapter may be mildly, and I do mean mildly, upsetting to some readers so proceed with caution.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything from Fairy Tail.

* * *

Gray woke to the feeling of cool indifference flowing through his veins, and, with a disgruntled sigh, rolled out of bed and strode into his bathroom. After taking care of business he hopped in the shower, leaving the tap on cold. Most people avoided cold showers, but Gray thrived on them. They made his magic seem closer, more powerful. He loved the feeling, especially after being oppressed by heat. He frowned as he realized lately he hasn't been able to avoid the heat.

Finally, he got out of the shower and toweled off before heading towards the sink. His reflection stared back at him and he was only mildly surprised to see his midnight blue eyes were a startling red, that the black marks that covered the right side of his body had spread a little higher up on his forehead. It really didn't bother him. He'd grown used to the marks.

He had just finished drying his hair when he heard a small, almost frightened voice, calling out for him from the bedroom. "Gray?" the person called, nervous.

Gray shot an annoyed glance towards the door before stomping into the bedroom and glaring down at Natsu, who looked afraid. "What do you want?" he asked gruffly, crossing his arms.

Natsu opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if imitating a fish, before finally managing to stammer out, "Gray, your eyes…"

Gray snorted, cutting him off. "What about them?" he asked crossing the room and opening his dresser.

Natsu didn't respond right away. Gray had gotten pants and a shirt on before the fire mage tried again. "Gray, I…"

"What?" Gray snapped whirling around to face Natsu, his eyes blazing. "What do you want? Spit it out, Natsu! I don't have all day."

Natsu flinched at his harsh words and curled his knees up to his chest. "Never mind," he whispered. Gray glared down at him for another minute before moving to his desk and starting the paperwork for the day. He grew more and more tense as he felt Natsu's stare burn into the back of his head, and he wasn't surprised when Natsu tried to speak again. "Gray, those marks…I think they're…"

"Fucking Christ!" Gray hissed slamming his pen down. "I am not putting up with this today." He pushed his chair back and began to storm towards the bedroom door.

"Where are you going?" Natsu asked, panicked.

"Out," Gray replied shortly. "And you better hope no one tries to get in here, because I'm not freezing the door shut."

"Gray, no, please, please!" Natsu begged. "Gray!" Gray ignored his cries and slammed the door shut behind him, and headed to the main section of the guild. After a while he found himself at the training room, and leaned against the doorframe to watch Jerome defeat Briar.

"I told you, you were no match for me," Jerome boasted to a scowling Briar.

"Oh, I don't know," Gray said stepping into the room. "I think she could beat you. She must just be having an off day." He winked at his female guild mate, who smiled appreciatively at him.

Jerome, however, glowered before putting on a fake smile. "Gray!" he greeted with a forced cheerfulness. "So great to see you out of your room. Did you finally tire of your pet?"

Gray smiled tightly. "I don't think I could ever tire of his screaming," he replied.

This time Jerome's smile was more genuine. "Ah, I know," he agreed. "He is a beautiful screamer, especially when you push his limits. He never liked when I fisted him much, but it's truly a sight to see your fist disappear in that glorious ass!"

"I don't think we share the same kinks," Gray said stiffly, but then flashed Jerome a wicked smile. "I find ice a much better tool for torture."

Jerome laughed. "You have a point there, my friend," he conceded. "But when it comes to ice you have the advantage." Gray nodded tersely, not liking the gleam in his guild mate's eyes. He knew him well enough to know it meant he was plotting something.

"How about we make a little wager?" Jerome suggested.

"Wager?" Gray questioned cautiously.

"Yes, for Natsu," Jerome replied. "We'll duel for him and whoever wins gets to keep the desirable fire mage."

"Jerome," Briar began warningly.

"No, it's alright," Gray said offering his right hand out to Jerome. "We have a deal."

"Excellent!" Jerome exclaimed shaking Gray's hand. He lifted his sword up. "I hope there won't be hard feelings between us when I take the fire mage back from you."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Jerome," Gray told him. "Because that's not going to happen. Ice-make Sword!" The two faced off and Gray met Jerome blow for blow. But Jerome's swordsmanship was not renowned for no reason. With one skillful thrust, he broke Gray's ice sword in two.

"Give up, Gray?" Jerome goaded.

"Not even close," Gray returned. "Ice Devil-Freeze!" Jerome barely managed to jump out of the way in time.

"That was a nice move," Jerome acknowledged. "But I still think I can beat you."

"We'll see," Gray said smiling as Jerome charged at him. He kept out of reach using his ice-make magic to create barriers and frustrate Jerome. Finally, Jerome charged him again and Gray made his final move. "Ice-make Floor!" Jerome lost his footing and crashed to the ground.

The sound of clapping filled the room. "Nicely done, Gray," Briar praised. "That was a battle smartly fought."

Gray smiled. "You have to be smart when fighting Jerome," he said. It was the one compliment he'd give his pompous guild mate. He was a skilled mage.

"Glad to hear you say so," Jerome growled.

"Don't be a sore loser, Jerome," Briar chided. "Gray won the fight fair and square."

"But the fire mage will go to waste under his hands," Jerome complained.

Gray stiffened. "You have no idea what goes on between us," he hissed.

"I know he used to be a comrade of yours," Jerome spat. "You expect us to believe you're actually hurting him? That you'd actually rape someone you once called a friend?"

"He doesn't mean anything to me anymore," Gray stated, and then snorted. "He never meant anything to me."

"Then why keep him all to yourself?" Jerome questioned. "If he means so little to you why bother keep him with you? Let someone else play with him for a while."

"Enough!" Briar shouted stepping in between the two mages. She turned to glare at Jerome. "You lost the wager, Jerome, so just accept the fact that Natsu will remain in Gray's hands." Jerome glared at her before turning on his heels and storming out of the room. When he'd disappeared from sight Briar turned to face Gray.

"I don't know what you're doing with the fire mage, but I know you'd never hurt him," Briar said.

"That's not true," Gray replied. "I've made him suffer…"

"You haven't," Briar cut him off harshly, but her expression was soft. "Under all that darkness you're steeped in you would never hurt a comrade, and that's what Natsu is to you. I know you don't think highly of us, but I saw you carrying the fire mage to your room the day you rescued him from the dungeon. You care about him."

Gray stared at her for a moment, thinking about denying it, but her words chased away the indifference he'd felt all morning. Her words shocked the darkness out of his system. If he liked any of his new guild mates, it was Briar. "Are you going to tell Jerome?" he asked softly.

"No, but you need to be careful," Briar cautioned him. "He knows you're just shielding Natsu. He's waiting for the right moment to strike, and when he does he'll take you both down." Gray shifted nervously on his feet. He'd been afraid of that. "You should get back to your fire mage. Before Jerome decides he's not going to honor his bet."

Gray startled at her words, remembering that in his darkened state that morning, he'd left Natsu unguarded. Any guild member could get to him, and Jerome wasn't the only person in the Avatar Guild who would like to have their fun with the dragon slayer. He took off quickly for his room praying that Natsu hadn't fled. If Natsu had left the room and was wandering the guild somewhere there was no way he'd find him before one of his guild members did. He had just turned the corner of his corridor when he saw Goumon walking towards him, away from his room.

"I was wondering where you were when I didn't find you in your room, Gray," Goumon greeted him, a sinister smile on his face. "I wanted to deliver your mail to you."

Gray frowned, trying to push down panic. "Yes, well I'm here now, so if you'll just give me my mail you can consider your job done," he said.

Goumon chuckled, not at all fooled. "I left your mail on your desk," he told him. "Right in the center so you won't miss it."

"It's not polite to enter other people's rooms without permission," Gray snapped, his fears confirmed. Goumon had been in his room, and if Natsu was still in there the sadistic mage wouldn't have left him alone.

"I was only trying to be helpful," Goumon stated not at all bothered by Gray's sharp words. "If you don't want people to enter your room perhaps you should learn to lock your door."

Gray gritted his teeth and waited until Goumon turned the corner before sprinting to his bedroom. "Natsu!" he cried bursting through his door and scouring the room for the fire mage. Natsu was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't on or under the bed, he wasn't curled up in a corner, he wasn't even hiding in the closet. He didn't answer any of the times Gray called his name. Gray was about to go on a desperate search through the guildhall when he heard a quiet whimper from the bathroom.

"Natsu!" Gray shouted sprinting for the bathroom. He came to an abrupt halt in the doorway. Natsu was curled in a ball in the tub, shaking so hard he looked like he was having a seizure. "Natsu, shit!" He raced to the tub and reached out to comfort Natsu, but the fire mage struggled out of his grip and burrowed against the opposite side of the tub in a desperate attempt to get away from him. "Natsu, what…" And the memory of the morning washed over him. Not only had he been short with Natsu this morning, which would have been damaging enough, but he left him exposed to his guild mates, and since Gray could already see purple bruise developing on Natsu's cheek he knew Goumon had messed with the fire mage.

Gray let out a pained noise and leaned his forehead against the lip of the bathtub. "I'm so sorry, Natsu," he said. "I…the marks, they…they fill me with so much darkness sometimes I can't control it. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Neither spoke for a while, until suddenly, "Gray?"

Gray looked up to see Natsu staring at him. "Natsu," he murmured reaching a hand out to him, but pausing, remembering the fire mage pulling away from his touch before. Natsu seemed to understand his hesitancy and placed his shaking hand over the ice mage's, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles soothingly. It was all the encouragement Gray needed. He stood up and climbed into the tub alongside Natsu, shifting the fire mage until he was pressed against his own chest. He wrapped his arms around Natsu's torso and pressed gentle kisses to Natsu's hair and neck.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he whispered over and over again. Natsu just nodded, leaning back against him, his hand never letting go of Gray's. Finally, though Gray's attention shifted back to the bruise developing on Natsu's cheek. He sincerely doubted Goumon had struck the fire mage one blow and left.

"Where else did he touch you, Natsu?" Gray asked. He felt Natsu stiffened in his arms, and the pink haired head shook back and forth frantically. "Natsu? Did he…did he rape you?" The fire mage didn't answer, just trembled violently against him. Gray sighed and slid a hand down to the waistband of Natsu's pants and began to tug them down.

"No, Gray, please! He didn't! He didn't!" Natsu cried trying to squirm away from Gray's hands.

"Okay, okay!" Gray said pulling Natsu back against him, and shifting his hands up to the fire mage's chest. "It's okay. I believe you, but I have to know what he did do."

"N-nothing really," Natsu stuttered. "Just banged me up a little. It's just bruises."

Gray nodded. "Can I see them?" he asked softly his fingers trailing down to the hem of Natsu's t-shirt. He waited for Natsu's consent, and after a minute the fire mage nodded his head. Gray peeled the shirt off of him, and sucked in a breath when he saw the deep, black bruises covering his back. "This is more than just a little banged up, Natsu? Did he beat you?"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Natsu wailed.

"You're sorry?" Gray cried in shocked dismay. "For what?"

"I'm pathetic! I'm so weak," Natsu blubbered, barely able to breathe as loud sobs wracked his body.

"Natsu, no," Gray sighed and cradled the dragon slayer. "You're one of the strongest people I know." His words didn't stop Natsu's crying though, so he just rocked the fire mage gently until he ran out of tears and slumped back against him. Gray shifted and lifted Natsu into his arms as he climbed out of the tub. He carried the fire mage to the bedroom and laid him face down on the bed and straddled Natsu's back, his ass resting right over Natsu's.

"Gray?" Natsu questioned tensely.

"Relax," Gray soothed, rubbing at Natsu's shoulder, being careful not to put any pressure on his bruises. "I'm just giving you a massage."

"You better not fuck around with my bruises, Ice Bastard," Natsu grumbled.

Gray chuckled. "Don't tempt me," he said and went to work on Natsu's back, rubbing out the kinks and the stiffness. Soon Natsu was mush under him, and to Gray's amusement, and a little to his excitement, the fire mage began to moan like a bitch in heat. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Shut up," Natsu groaned, and then smiled. "Although I have to admit, it looks like you're actually good for something other than making ice cubes."

"Flame-brain," Gray snorted.

"Ice-princess," Natsu retorted. Gray smirked and cooled the temperature of his palm before pressing it gently down over a bruise. He expected the fire mage to flinch away from his touch, but to his shock Natsu moaned in such debauchery his dick shot up, rearing to go.

"Shit!" he muttered praying Natsu didn't notice. He couldn't imagine how Natsu would react if he felt his hardened member pressing against is ass. He tried to shift his position, but that just made the situation work.

"Do that again, Gray," Natsu ordered.

"What?" Gray asked dumbly.

"Whatever you just did to make your hands cold," Natsu said. "It made the bruise feel so much better. Do it again."

Gray rolled his eyes. "You're bossy," he told the fire mage, but rubbed his cold hands over the bruise again. At least this time he was expecting the moan. He kept it up until Natsu had fallen asleep and his hard on had decided to go away, since he obviously wasn't going to take care of it. Feeling sleepy himself he climbed off Natsu and rolled onto his side pulling Natsu's back against his chest. If the coolness of his skin soothed the ache from his bruises he didn't mind putting up with the heat radiating from the fire mage. Actually, he was beginning to find it comforting.


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning: **If you are not eighteen do not read this chapter. There is very adult content in this chapter.

**Author's Note: **I apologize for the long wait. School has been hectic. There's going to be at least a month before I update this chapter again. As the semester winds down I won't have time for writing and then I plan to work on two other of my fics and wrap them up before I get back to my schedule. So I had to give a good chapter before then. This chapter's nice and long and for those of you who like smut...there is smut. I hope it's up to your standards. I very rarely write sex scenes so I'm not well practiced. I'm sure I'll improve as time goes on, but hopefully what I wrote now is okay. Anyway, please enjoy the chapter and leave a review. They fuel me so even if I won't be updating the next chapter quickly I'll work my ass off to make it a good one for you all. I'm really thrilled with how well received this fic has been so far, and thank you all for reading.

**Disclamier: **I do not own anything from Fairy Tail. All rights belong to the writer and creator if the manga and anime show.

* * *

Natsu had regressed a bit after the incident. Three days the fire dragon slayer had slipped back into muteness. And even after he'd come out of it he was more hesitant to speak, only really talking if he needed something or if Gray prompted him. Even more concerning, he'd grown reluctant to eat again. For the first time in weeks Gray had had to beg Natsu to eat at least half of his meal. And it killed Gray. It killed him to know that this relapse was his fault.

Gray, currently, was staring morosely at Natsu's sleeping face. Without thinking about it he reached out and stroked the fire mage's cheek. He couldn't help the fond smile that flitted across his face. Natsu was so boyish. There was still a little roundness to his face. His cheeks hadn't quite chiseled out yet. And even though Natsu was only a year younger than Gray, it was clear that a razor had never touched his face. Gray himself had to shave twice a day thanks to his dark hair. As he continued to stare at Natsu he couldn't help but find it funny that he'd never noticed how young Natsu looked before. After all, they'd spent a lot of time together fighting on the same team.

Then again, maybe that was why he'd never noticed. Natsu was one hell of a fighter. He was a strong mage, and his strength didn't just come from his magic. Natsu was cut. There was nothing boyish about Natsu's body. He was broad-shouldered, bulging muscles obvious among his back and arms. And Gray knew if he were to flip Natsu over onto his back he'd be met with a hard six-pack. Natsu was made of pure muscle. Gray had always been a little jealous. He was muscular, but he had more of a rangy look to him, more of a runner's build. He'd never been able to bulk up like Natsu had.

Gray continued to look over Natsu's body until he felt the rush of heat to his groin and realized he was half hard. Gray closed his eyes and groaned into his pillow. It was becoming an increasing problem for him lately. Something about being around Natsu made the ice mage painfully turned on. Stifling a sigh he opened his eyes and nearly jumped when he saw that Natsu was staring back at him.

"Are you feeling okay?" Natsu asked concerned.

"What?" Gray asked dumbly.

Natsu frowned. "I heard you groaning," he said. "And you look flushed."

Gray blushed. He'd rather Natsu not know why he was flushed. "I'm fine. I just wasn't ready to wake up yet," he lied.

Natsu didn't look convinced and scooched closer. He placed his palm to Gray's forehead. "You don't feel warm," he declared.

"That's because I don't have a fever," Gray laughed pulling at Natsu's wrist to pull his hand away from his forehead. Natsu nodded his head and shifted as he started to sit up, but as he did so his knee brushed against the bulge in Gray's boxers and he froze. Gray tensed and waited for Natsu to freak out but to his surprise the fire mage smiled in amusement.

"So that's why you were flushed, hmm?" Natsu teased.

Gray smiled bashfully. "Yeah. Sorry, it's-Christ!" he exclaimed suddenly after Natsu pressed his palm to his crotch. He watched shocked as Natsu traced his cock through the fabric of his boxers, sending shocks of pleasure through Gray's body. He tried to focus on Natsu rather than his own body. The fire mage's face had a look of cautious wonder on it as he continued to trace a finger along the outline of his erection. His fingers slipped closer and closer to his groin, until his fingers brushed against Gray's balls. Gray let out a cry and Natsu immediately stopped. Gray took a minute to get his bearings before staring up at Natsu, stunned.

Natsu blushed and ducked his head. "Sorry," he said.

"No it's…it's fine," Gray assured him sitting up and lifting Natsu's chin up so he could look the other mage in the eyes. "You're fine, Natsu. There's no harm done." He grinned wickedly then. "Of course, now I have to go take care of this." Natsu flushed and Gray laughed. "Get dressed while I shower, okay?" Natsu nodded, and before Gray could think about it he leaned forward and gave Natsu a quick peck on the lips before hurrying to the bathroom and hopping in the shower. He tried not to think about why he'd done that as he brought himself off.

When Gray walked back into the room Natsu was dressed. The fire mage's gaze jumped over to him and Gray smiled when he saw that Natsu was checking him out. He shook his head when his dick tried to jump back to life, and quickly dressed. When he turned back around to face Natsu, the other boy was still staring at him.

Gray smiled. "We're going out today," he told him.

"What?" Natsu exclaimed. "Am I allowed to?"

"No, but we're going anyway," Gray replied pulling Natsu to his feet.

"Where are we going?" Natsu asked as Gray led him out of the room he'd been confined in for over a month now.

"Don't worry about it," Gray replied. "You'll see." Gray watched Natsu's increasing excitement with fond amusement. The fire mage had a huge smile on his face as Gray led him through town, and when he begged Gray to let him browse through the market, Gray didn't have the heart to tell him no. They had been out for an hour when they finally reached their destination. Gray felt a small twinge of nerves as he led Natsu up the walk to the healer's house he'd hired a little over two months ago. He held his breath as the healer opened the door and stared sternly out at him.

"I thought I told you not to require my assistance again," the healer woman stated dryly.

"I don't," Gray answered quickly. "I just thought you might like to see how your patient is doing."

The woman's violet eyes swept past him to glance at Natsu who was standing close behind Gray, staring at the scene around him with a bright smile. The healer's eyes turned back to Gray. "He looks fine to me," she said, but stepped back to let them in, and Gray yanked the fire mage past the threshold. Gray glanced around as the healer led them down a hallway. The house was small, but cozy. The walls were covered in pictures, but they didn't make the place look cluttered. Gray wanted to ask who the people in the pictures were, but he got the feeling his questions wouldn't be well received so he held his tongue as the woman brought them into her kitchen.

"I have tea on," the woman stated as they sat down at her kitchen table. "I can't offer you a large dinner but if you're going to stay that long I'm making chili."

Natsu perked up at this declaration. "Will it be spicy?" he asked eagerly.

Gray was shocked when a small smile slipped onto the woman's face, giving her a softer expression. "It'll have some zip to it," the healer replied. "But probably not as much as you're hoping. Spicy food and middle age aren't a good combination."

"If it has any spice at all Natsu will be happy," Gray told her, and turned to Natsu. "Do you think the spicy food will help you use your dragon slayer magic again?"

Natsu frowned at him. "Gray," he whined, but Gray didn't let him continue. He turned his attention back to the healer.

"He's had a pretty good recovery," Gray explained. "He's not so jumpy and he's eating well. He's starting to gain his weight back, but one thing is still concerning me. He hasn't used his magic at all. Do you think what they did to him could have blocked it somehow?"

The healer opened her mouth to reply when suddenly the sound of a chair scraping across the floor caused them to turn to Natsu. The fire mage was glaring at Gray. "There's nothing wrong with my magic. I just don't feel like using it. Can't you just let it go?" he cried.

"If you showed me you can actually use it," Gray replied.

"Fine!" Natsu snapped and then shot a flame under the tea pot on the stove causing the water inside to heat up instantly and the pot to whistle. Natsu turned back to Gray. "See! There's nothing wrong with my magic."

"Okay. You've assured me," Gray said taking the teapot off the stove. "I don't know why you had to make a big production out of it."

"I'm not the one who makes big productions out of things," Natsu replied moodily and started to head for the back door.

"Where are you going?" Gray asked him.

"Out back to practice my dragon slayer magic," Natsu returned. "Just so you don't have to worry about it anymore."

Gray shook his head as the door slammed behind Natsu and watched from the window as the flame-brain began going through training moves. "I can't believe it's taken me this long to rile him up enough to get him using his magic again," he muttered as the healer handed him a cup of tea.

"I don't think that's why you brought him here," the healer said staring over at Gray from the kitchen table. Gray's eyes widened in surprise. It was odd how this woman was able to see right through him. The healer continued to give him a hard stare. "Why did you really bring him here?"

"I thought it would do him good to get out of the guild," Gray replied, but when the woman continued to stare at him he sighed. "I also need someone to watch him while I attend to some business."

The healer's nostrils flared. "I want no part of your guild's business," she stated. "Take your friend and leave immediately."

"It's not the guild's business. It's mine," Gray said calmly. "I need to meet with someone."

"Who?" the healer questioned.

"Frank Kent," Gray answered. "I'm trying to find two people. Two old friends actually. They were with Natsu when he raided our old guild hall but I managed to convince Master Arlock that the two don't pose a threat on their own, and he let them go."

"And you're looking for them so they can come back and take Natsu away?" the healer questioned.

Gray shook his head. "I'm looking for them because Natsu is convinced they're dead," he replied. "The bastard that hurt him told him he killed them. I just want to show Natsu they're fine."

"No," the healer said. "You want to show yourself that they're fine."

Gray glanced up at her. "Everyone keeps telling me that," he sighed.

"Because you're not being honest with yourself," the woman told him. She picked up his empty teacup and set it in the sink. "You better get to Kent's office before it closes up. I'll keep an eye on your friend."

"Thank you," Gray said and quickly headed for Frank Kent's office building.

Frank Kent was sitting at his desk flipping through take-out menus when Gray arrived at his office. "Take a seat, Mr. Fullbuster," he ordered without looking up. Gray sat down across from the private detective and tried not to squirm impatiently as the PI continued to search through his menus. Finally, the man put them aside. "I have news for you."

"You found Lucy and Happy?" Gray asked hopefully.

"No," Frank Kent replied. "But I found possessions of theirs." He pushed his chair back and opened a desk drawer before tossing the items on the desk so Gray could see them. Gray recognized Happy's sack and Lucy's celestial spirit keys immediately.

"Those are theirs," Gray said excitedly. "They must have been close to where you found them. You should have stayed in the area."

Frank Kent sighed. "I would have," he replied, "if I thought I was going to find them alive."

"What?" Gray cried.

"The way my telepathy works is that I can see old memories and thoughts or new memories and thoughts," Frank Kent began to explain.

"Well, I know that," Gray responded. "That's why you're so good at what you do."

"Yes, it's a great asset," Frank admitted.

"Yeah, it is. But why are you explaining it to me? What does it have to do with my friends?" Gray asked.

"I haven't picked up any new thoughts or memories from them from their belongings," Frank replied. "It wasn't so odd when I went through the young woman's apartment and didn't get any progress. Old memories can sink in and be attached to objects. New memories can't get through. But I should be able to get readings from these items. They carried these items every day. It makes thoughts hard to settle on them. The fact that I'm getting nothing but old memories from these items tells me I'm no longer looking for living people. From this point on in my investigation I'll be looking for their bodies."

Gray shook his head. "You're wrong," he stated. "Lucy and Happy can't be dead. They were…they are Fairy Tail mages. They must have just had to leave their items behind. I'm sure they're alive."

Frank Kent looked sympathetic. "I hope I am wrong," he told him. "Trust me, I love it when I'm wrong. But I needed to tell you the new realities of this case so you know what to be prepared for."

"I don't have to be prepared for anything," Gray replied standing up. "Keep Happy's backpack and Lucy's keys. They'll be missing them. Especially Lucy. Have a good night." He didn't look back as he rushed from the office. He couldn't accept the fact that Happy and Lucy might be dead. Because if they were not only was he wrong about his guild mates, but it would be his fault.

Gray walked back to the healer's house slowly. Even though Natsu didn't know where he'd gone, he didn't want to face him. He felt like a failure. Sighing, he went to knock on the door but it opened before his fist could make contact. The healer tugged him in by his jacket and shut the door quickly behind them. Gray took one look at her worried face and a feeling of dread sank into him.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"I saw one of your guild mates lurking outside the front of my house," the woman replied. "That little girl. The nasty one."

"Mary," Gray sighed and then his eyes widened and he started looking around him frantically. "Natsu! Where…"

"He's in the kitchen," the woman told him cutting off his panic attack. "I brought him inside when I noticed her."

"Did she see him training?" Gray asked.

"I don't know," the woman replied. "But I'm going to tell you something. Take your friend and run."

"What?!" Gray exclaimed.

"You've kept him from harm for the moment, but you won't be able to keep him safe forever," the healer said. "Take him and run. Get yourselves out."

"I can't," Gray replied. "I need the guild to get to Zeref. So I can defeat E.N.D and get revenge for my family."

"There's no satisfaction in revenge," the woman told him, and Gray noticed her eyes sweeping over to a picture of two young girls hung up on the wall. When her eyes came back to him they looked firm. "Trust me. It won't make you happy."

Gray glanced over at the picture and then back at the woman. "What happened to them?" Gray asked softly.

"The one was killed by a monster," the healer answered him slowly. "The other became a monster herself." She turned away from him then. "I'm leaving tonight. I won't be able to help you again."

"I still don't know your name," Gray commented as he followed her to the kitchen.

The woman paused. "It's Aoi," she told him.

They both entered the kitchen then and Natsu looked up from where he sat at the table wolfing down chili. "Gray! You've got to try this. Her chili's the best!" the fire mage enthused.

Gray smiled. "I doubt you left me anything to sample," he teased. "I hope you at least let our host have a bowl."

"Only because I have fast reflexes," Aoi commented smiling. "I'll wrap the rest up for you."

"Where'd you go?" Natsu asked Gray.

"I had an errand to run," Gray replied, his solemn mood returning now that he was reminded of his business.

"Oh," Natsu said visibly deflating. "For the guild?"

"No. It was a personal errand," Gray answered as Aoi handed him a plastic container of leftover chili. "Let's get going. We have to go back now."

"Can we stop at the market again?" Natsu asked dragging his feet.

"No. Now let's go," Gray urged. He didn't want to tell Natsu they had been followed, but he felt the need to get back enough for the two of them. He didn't let Natsu dawdle in town and practically dragged him back into the guildhall. He was relieved to find it guilty, but was sure his luck wouldn't hold out for long, and sure enough he was proven right.

"Taking your pet out for a walk, Gray?" Jerome's smug voice sounded out from behind him. "I don't think Master Arlock would like that."

Gray turned around to face his guild mate. "I don't see why he'd care," he answered keeping his voice calm. "I brought him back, didn't I?"

"Hmm," Jerome hummed sauntering closer to them. "Miraculously, yes, you did bring him back."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gray asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Just that Mary saw your pet practicing his magic in someone's backyard," Jerome replied. "She thought he must have gotten away from you somehow."

"I can handle Natsu," Gray snapped. "I'm stronger than he is."

"So he didn't get away from you then?" Jerome said.

"No, I was watching him the whole time. Mary must not have been able to see me from where she was standing," Gray replied. "Besides, my pet would never run from me. He does what I tell him to. Or there are consequences." He felt more than saw Natsu tense next to him.

"He does what you tell him to, does he?" Jerome questioned. Gray felt his heart sink. Jerome wasn't buying it. Feeling guiltier than ever before he had in his life he roughly grabbed a hold of Natsu's hair and pulled him to him.

Natsu yelped. "Gray…"

"Shut up and get on your knees!" Gray growled menacingly. Natsu immediately dropped to the ground staring up at him in shock and horror. Gray's stomach heaved as the fire mage began to tremble, but he had to sell his control over the other mage to Jerome if he wanted to keep him safe. He kept his face in a threatening expression. "Blow me." Natsu's eyes widened and he tried to scramble back, but Gray tugged hard on his hair, keeping him kneeling at his feet.

"You know what I'll do if you refuse. I wouldn't keep me waiting any longer," Gray threatened menacingly. Natsu whimpered, but lifted his shaking hands to Gray's fly and pulled the zipper down. Gray kept his eyes up, staring Jerome down. When he felt Natsu's hand slide into the front of his boxers his blonde guild mate finally spoke up.

"Alright, I get the point. He follows orders," Jerome snapped.

Gray nodded his head and yanked Natsu's hair to get him to stop. "Yes, so if you're satisfied now I'll take my pet and we'll be on our way," he said smugly. "I'd like to finish what was started." He pulled Natsu to his feet and pushed him forward towards his room. He opened the door and shoved the fire mage inside before slamming the door shut behind him. When he turned back to face Natsu he could have wept in dismay.

"Natsu, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Gray asked stepping towards his old friend, but the fire mage stumbled backwards away from him. Gray froze. He had to fix the situation. "I had to do it, Natsu. If Jerome thought I couldn't control you he'd report me to Master Arlock and then I wouldn't be able to protect you from them anymore. I never would have made you go through with it though, Natsu. I knew Jerome would stop me." This time when he moved towards the pinkette, Natsu didn't back away. Gray held him in his arms and rubbed his back soothingly.

"Why did he stop you?" Natsu asked quietly after a few minutes.

"Because he doesn't want to see what he can't have," Gray replied and stepped back so he could see Natsu's face. "Jerome's wanted me from the moment I joined the guild, but I refused him." Gray smirked. "He's not my type."

"You mean because he's not a girl?" Natsu questioned.

"No," Gray answered. "Because he's a pompous git." Natsu gave him a watery smile. Gray leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the fire mage's forehead.

"You do that a lot," Natsu commented.

"Do what?" Gray asked.

"Kiss me," Natsu replied. "You never used to."

"You never would have let me," Gray returned walking around Natsu to sit on his bed.

Natsu turned to him. "Did you want to before?" he asked. "Did you ever want to kiss me before what happened here?"

Gray stared up at him and thought back to their time at Fairy Tail and shook his head. "No," he answered, and then smiled. "Back then I just wanted to clock you."

Natsu smiled back before sitting down next to Gray. "I never wanted to kiss you back then either," he said. "But now I want to kiss you all the time."

Gray raised his eyebrows. "All the time?" he questioned.

Natsu flushed. "Sorry. You probably think I'm an idiot," he replied.

Gray laughed. "I've always thought you were an idiot," he told him.

"Ice Princess," Natsu replied punching him lightly on the arm.

"Flame-brain," Gray teased shoving him a little. They smiled brightly at each other and then…they kissed. It started off soft and slow, but slowly the passion increased. Gray flicked his tongue over Natsu's lips and the fire mage opened his mouth to him. Without hesitation Gray shoved his tongue into his mouth, exploring the warm cavern. Natsu tasted like smoke and cinnamon, and Gray was addicted. He grew more aggressive, thrusting his tongue in and out of Natsu's mouth, as one of his hands clamped onto the back of his head to keep him still.

Natsu didn't seem to mind and scooted closer to Gray. He seemed to grow more adventurous and soon his tongue snuck into Gray's mouth to explore. Gray sucked on the pink muscle and Natsu groaned before pulling away, panting for breath. Gray didn't give him more than a few seconds before diving back in, pressing sloppy kisses against the fire mage's parted lips and then nipping his bottom lip gently. Natsu whimpered, and Gray felt all the blood in his body go straight to his groin and he became painfully hard.

Gray loosened the hand in Natsu's hair and brought it down to cup his cheek. "Are you okay with this?" he asked concerned.

Natsu nodded his head. "Yeah, this is okay," he said, and then blushed. "Better than okay really." Gray followed the fire mage's glance down to his groin.

A smile tugged at Gray's lips but he looked up at Natsu in concern. "Is that gonna be a problem for you?" he asked.

"I-I don't know," Natsu replied uncertainly. "I don't know if I can do more than just kissing."

"We don't have to do any more than that," Gray assured him. "We're only gonna do what you want to, Natsu. And if it gets to be too much tell me to stop. I'll stop. You're in charge here."

"Can we go back to kissing?" Natsu asked. Gray smiled and descended back onto Natsu's lips, and after a moment pushed him back so his partner was on his back with his head on a pillow. He straddled over the fire mage's waist never breaking off the kiss. They continued to devour each other's lips for a while before Gray finally left Natsu's mouth and began to trail kisses up the fire mage's jaw, stopping to nip the skin every so often since he liked to hear the little whimper it elicited from Natsu.

Gray continued right up to Natsu's ear before biting gently onto the lobe and pulling the padded skin into his mouth, sucking hard. Natsu cried out and bucked up underneath. Gray smirked around the flesh in his mouth before letting it go and nipping and licking his way up and down the shell of Natsu's ears before biting hard on the sensitive skin just below the ear itself, while at the same time one of his hands tugged at one of the fire mage's nipples.

"Gray!" Natsu shouted, thrashing around beneath him.

Gray lifted himself up and stared down at Natsu. "You okay?" he questioned, running his hand through the other mage's hair.

Natsu nodded. "Yeah," he panted. "I'm good. I'm hard."

Gray smirked and ground down a little on the bulge poking into his behind. "I'd noticed," he replied. "Do you want me to do something about it?"

At this remark, Natsu looked uncomfortable. "I don't know how much I'll be able to handle," he whispered quietly.

Gray leaned down and gave him a gentle peck on the lips. "What do you think?" he murmured. "Do you want me to give you a hand job or a blow job?"

"I-I don't know," Natsu stammered. "Not a blow job. I-I never liked it when that tiny girl did them."

Gray stiffened, but decided it best not to comment. "Okay," he said. "Do you want me to try jacking you off?"

Natsu squirmed underneath him. "You can try, but…I don't know if I'll like it," he replied.

"Well, let's give it a shot," Gray returned shifting a little so he was sitting right above Natsu's knees. He yanked the fire mage's pants and boxers halfway down his thighs, freeing his erection. Gray licked his lips at the sight. Natsu was big. Not as long as himself, but thicker. And the bulging vein that ran up the swollen and red cock looked downright tantalizing to Gray. He wanted to trace it with his tongue, but knew he wouldn't be allowed to tonight.

Carefully, he traced up the thick shaft with one finger, going slow so Natsu could think about whether he could go through with this or not. When Natsu didn't protest the action Gray wrapped his hand loosely around his cock and twisted his wrist and pulled up until his palm covered the head. He paid attention to Natsu's breathing. It was fast and a little shaky, but he didn't sound panicked. Taking that as a good sign he shifted his hand back down again, back to the base and squeezed slightly.

"Gray," Natsu half-moaned.

Gray looked up at the fire mage and frowned. There was the smallest flicker of fear in Natsu's eyes. He loosened his grip. "No good?" he asked.

"I-I don't know," Natsu replied looking away. "It feels good, but…if I look away I start to remember their hands on me."

"Do you want me to stop?" Gray asked. He waited for a moment before Natsu finally nodded his head.

"I'm sorry," Natsu whispered.

"Hey, none of that," Gray said moving back up so he could kiss the fire mage. "Don't apologize to me for that. If it's no good, it's no good."

"But I want you to do it, I just can't stop myself from remembering…"

"I know," Gray assured him. "One day you'll be able to but I'm not surprised that day isn't today."

"I want to get off though," Natsu grumbled a little petulantly. "I'm so hard it hurts."

"Yeah, I'm facing a similar situation," Gray chuckled. "I have an idea. Do you want to go along with it?"

"What is it?" Natsu asked.

"Ditch the rest of your clothes," Gray ordered and went to go pull his shirt off but discovered he'd already lost it at some point.

"How do you not notice?" Natsu asked shucking off his pants.

Gray shrugged. "Just a habit," he replied as they both got naked. "Alright, lie back on the bed."

"What are we doing?" Natsu asked, a little nervous.

"Frotting," Gray answered quickly, climbing back over Natsu.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" he questioned.

"Do you have any objections?" Gray replied.

"I could have just done that into my pillow," Natsu grumbled.

"I'm better than a pillow," Gray told him and then leaned down to kiss him while simultaneously rubbing up against the dragon slayer's hip. Natsu gasped and Gray smirked and he raised his head up from the kiss. "See?"

"A little less talking and a little more frotting please," Natsu urged, raising his hips to drag his own cock along Gray's stomach.

"So demanding," Gray teased, but latched his lips back onto Natsu's and this time carefully arranged himself so that when he rubbed up against Natsu, their cocks brushed. They both moaned. Gray repeated the action, enjoying the feel of Natsu's cock against his. Despite the fact that they'd always been complete opposites, it was nice to see there was one way they matched up perfectly. As Gray continued to rut against the fire mage he grew increasingly hard, and soon both of their precum was working its way between them so their cocks slid more easily together.

Their kisses grew sloppy as they both came closer to release and Gray finally abandoned Natsu's mouth to suck and bite across Natsu's neck before finally clamping his teeth down hard on Natsu's collarbone and pinching hard on a nipple. Natsu went rigid underneath him and cried out as he came. Gray groaned at the feeling of Natsu's hot cum on his stomach and cock and after a few more sloppy thrusts he came himself. He fell down on top of Natsu and panted into the fire mage's sweat slicked skin, pressing damp, open mouth kisses to his neck and shoulder.

"Gray?" Natsu murmured sleepily.

"Mm?" Gray hummed.

"You're squishing me," Natsu said.

"Deal with it," Gray replied, but forced himself to find the strength to push himself up on his knees. He looked down at Natsu in concern. The fire mage looked sated and content, but still, he knew there was a chance Natsu could be freaking out. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Natsu replied, smiling up at him. "I'm good."

Gray smiled and leaned down and gave the fire mage a quick kiss. "We should clean up," he sighed.

"Don't wanna," Natsu slurred, closing his eyes.

"You wanna wake up covered in dry cum?" Gray questioned.

"If it's your cum," Natsu murmured.

"Christ!" Gray hissed, Natsu's words somehow causing his spent cock to try and jump back to life again. "If you don't want me to ravage you don't say such sexy things to me."

"Night, Gray," Natsu replied. Gray shook his head as he watched the fire mage's chest rise and fall slowly, his breathing evening out. He thought about getting up and finding a washcloth to clean them both off with, but finally just fell onto his side next to Natsu. It could wait until morning. Yawning, he threw an arm around the fire mage, and fell asleep.

* * *

Just be warned for the next chapter. It's dark. Very, very dark. Some of you will find it disturbing and may not be able to read it depending on whether it's something you're comfortable with. I wanted to warn you all rather than spring it on you. I know it's mean of me to be telling you this since it'll be a while before another update but I'd feel guilty not warning you. There will be no fluff or anything cute about the next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning: **There is rape in this chapter. If you know this is a trigger to you and will greatly upset you do not read. I do not want to cause anyone emotional turmoil or anxiety. Please do not read if this is something that will upset you. Also, if you are under the age of 18 do not read. The content of this chapter is not appropriate for anyone under eighteen years of age. If you are unable to read this chapter because of the content but want to know what's going on in the story, message me or leave a review and I'll give you a non-detailed account of what occurred.

**Author's Note: **I know it's been awhile since i updated. My life has been hectic and unfortunately that hasn't changed. I'm in my last semester of college and I am also student teaching this semester. I basically have a full time job and do not have much time to write. Please don't expect frequent or fast updates. I'm sorry, but I don't have the time to write for any of my fics at the moment. I hate not being able to work on my fics as much as I like but finishing up my education is far more important to me. I apologize that you'll have to wait longer for updates. I hope you enjoy this chapter and promise that the next chapter will be much less upsetting than this one. As always, reviews are welcome.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing from Fairy Tail. All rights belong to the writer and creator of the manga.

* * *

The second Gray saw the guildhall come into view he picked up his pace. He'd been away for three months on a mission Master Arlock had forced him to go on. Gray blamed Jerome. After their last meeting in the guildhall he was sure Jerome had gone running to their master and urged him to separate Gray from Natsu. Gray, of course, had wanted to protest when Master Arlock told him he was going on a long mission, but the latter had made it extremely clear that if Gray refused Natsu would be taken away from him and put back into the mercy of his other guild mates. Gray had been forced to accept the mission.

Of course, that meant Natsu had had to been brought back to the dungeons. Gray had tried to block the memory of dragging a crying Natsu back to his cell. Gray had tried to assure him that he'd be back the second his mission was done but he'd known nothing he said could have comforted the fire dragon slayer. Natsu would once again be subjected to the unwanted advances and torture from the other members of the Avatar Guild. The whole time Gray was gone on his mission he'd felt sick at the thought. Now, with the guild just a few feet away, he couldn't wait to get to the fire mage.

Gray burst the back door of the guild open that led straight to the dungeon and ran down the steps. He ran straight to Natsu's cell…and froze. The cell was empty. Gray closed his eyes and opened them again, but the cell was still empty. Gray whipped his head around him, searching to see if he'd ran past the fire mage on his way to this one but all the cells were empty. Gray felt dread flood through his body. He couldn't help but thinking the worse. The fear that Natsu had succumbed to the torture and abuse of his guild mates chilled him to the core. Biting back panic, Gray turned and ran up the steps heading for the main guildhall, ready to demand answers. He had no sooner reached the main guildhall when he saw all his guild mates lined up across the room with Master Arlock standing behind them. What really captured his attention, however, was the sight of Natsu kneeling in front of Jerome.

"What's going on here?" Gray asked looking over towards the guild's master.

"Hello to you too, Gray," Jerome said.

Gray glared at him. "I asked what's going on here?" he asked again. "What are you doing with my pet?"

"Gray," Natsu whined, but Gray cut him off with a sharp shake of his head.

"Well, that's just the problem, Gray," Jerome taunted. "He's in awfully good shape for someone you've been torturing for the past few months." Gray felt his heart skip a beat as he looked back down at Natsu. His guild mates had clearly not touched him in the months that he'd been gone. There were no marks or bruises covering the dragon slayer's skin. It was clear he was well fed. You could not see any bones and his muscles, though not as defined as they'd been when they were in Fairy Tail, were visible to the eye. The fact that Natsu was leaning towards Gray for protection was pretty damning evidence of Gray's caring too. Still, Gray refused to look shaken. He had to play his cards right here, or they could both be killed here and now. Gray could live with his own death, but not Natsu's.

Looking Jerome in the eye he finally replied. "He's no good to me all banged up and half dead. I heal him after I ruin him."

"So you've said before, but for some reason I don't believe you," Jerome replied. "And neither does Master Arlock."

Gray looked over at the guild master. "Master?" he questioned.

Master Arlock sighed. "I don't care what you do to or for the prisoner, but I can't stand Jerome constantly hounding me about your treatment of the prisoner, and really, Gray, he is a prisoner."

"I know that," Gray replied stiffly.

"Then prove it," Master Arlock ordered.

"Yes, Gray. Why don't you show us what you've been up to with him?" Jerome said snidely. Gray looked at each of his guild mates in turn before his eyes returned to Natsu who was staring up at him pleadingly. He knew what he had to do if he wanted to keep the fire mage alive. As much as the thought of actually doing this to Natsu killed him, it was better than the dragon slayer being dead.

"Gray, please," Natsu begged.

"Shut up!" Gray yelled harshly marching forward and grabbing a fistful of Natsu's pink hair in his hand. He looked up at Jerome. "You want a show? I'll give you a show." He turned around sharply and dragged Natsu by the hair into the middle of the room. He stared down at Natsu's terrified face and prayed the fire mage knew he was only doing this to spare his life.

"I've missed that hot mouth of yours while I've been gone," Gray forced himself to say. "Why don't you put it to good use?" He unbuttoned and unzipped his own jeans and gave Natsu a meaningful look.

Natsu shook his head, tears streaking down his cheeks. "No. No, no, no. Gray, please…" The sharp sound of Gray slapping the fire mage across the face reverberated around the room and he had to force himself not wince at his own force.

"Shut up!" Gray hollered. "I don't know why all of a sudden you think you have an option. Now, suck me off, Natsu!" Natsu stared up at him in horror but reached a trembling hand towards his crotch and pulled his cock out of the opening in his boxers. The fire mage stared up at him imploringly for a moment before tentatively sliding the head of his cock into his mouth. The heat inside the dragon slayer's mouth sent a shock wave of pleasure through Gray and made him clench his hand tightly in Natsu's pink locks in an attempt to keep his knees from buckling. He kept his grip tight as Natsu sank lower onto his cock. It was almost as if Natsu were made for cock-sucking. Gray felt himself grow hard on Natsu's tongue and shivered when the fire mage sucked gently on his cock. He wished things could go on like this forever, but he knew he needed to prove to his guild mates that he treated Natsu like a prisoner.

Hating himself for doing it, he forcefully pulled Natsu's head back to the head of his cock, and then slammed into Natsu's mouth hard, until the head of his cock reached the back of the fire mage's throat. He heard Natsu choke and felt the fire mage's hands pushing on his hips trying to force him to move back. Gray pulled back, but only to force back in even harder. He did it again and again, ignoring the gagging, choking sounds Natsu was making. He tried to ignore how good it felt to fuck Natsu's mouth, but he couldn't deny that he was in heaven. The heat of the mouth combined with the tightness of Natsu's throat was incredible and going to send him right over the edge. He thrust into Natsu's mouth three more times and finally spilled his load down the fire mage's throat. He stayed positioned there for a minute forcing Natsu to swallow his cum before finally pulling out of the dragon slayer's mouth.

Gray stepped back and stared down at Natsu. Tear washed eyes stared up at him in agony. The fire mage's lips were swollen and red from the assault on his mouth and he had spit and a small amount of cum he'd spat up dribbling down his chin. Gray's stomach churned at the sight. He felt sick at what he'd just done. Even worse, he loved the way Natsu looked so fuckable at the moment. A sick part of Gray actually wanted to do this to him.

"That didn't take you very long, Gray," Jerome mocked. "Three months break down all your control?"

Gray smiled coolly at him. "I have plenty of control, my friend," he replied. "You've used his mouth before. Can you blame me for coming so fast?"

Jerome smiled crookedly at him. "Touché," he purred and stared down longingly at Natsu. "I don't think you're being fair to your pet. Shouldn't he get to cum too?"

"An excellent point, Jerome," Gray cried before yanking Natsu's head up to look at him. "I'm not being fair here, pet. Don't you want to cum too?"

Natsu stared up at him blearily. "No," he rasped, his voice raw from the beating his throat had just taken.

Gray smirked. "Well, I think I can get you to change your mind," he said. He descended on Natsu, pulling him down to the ground. He straddled himself right above the fire mage's knees and pulled his pants halfway down his thighs. Natsu squirmed in protest, trying to get away, but Gray hovered over him, capturing the dragon slayer's wrists in his hands and then freezing them to the floor. He quickly slipped Natsu's pants and underwear the rest of the way off before freezing his feet to the floor as well, rendering him completely immobile. Gray stood up and circled around the fire mage, leaving him completely exposed to his guild mates.

"It's been awhile," Gray said thoughtfully. "I'm not sure what I want to do with you."

"Just fuck him, Gray," Master Arlock ordered in a bored voice. "Let's get this show over with." Gray sent a silent thank you that the guild master was tired of this game. Gray straddled Natsu's waist and kissed him forcefully. The dragon slayer did not kiss back, and Gray fought back his own agony as he realized fully what he was about to do. He couldn't do this while watching Natsu's betrayed face. He had to have the dragon slayer on his knees, but he had to make sure Natsu wouldn't fight him when he released him from his frozen bonds. Gray felt a fresh wave of nausea as he forced his tongue into the fire mage's mouth, before pressing tightly down on Natsu's throat. He heard a strangled whimper from Natsu as he panicked, trying to thrash underneath Gray. Gray pressed tighter onto his throat and sat up, breaking the kiss.

"Fight me, and I'll strangle you for real," he warned and released Natsu's limbs from the ice. Natsu immediately flexed his wrists and ankles, but didn't try to push Gray off. "Good." Gray swung off him and turned the fire mage over onto his stomach. He couldn't look Natsu in the eye as he raped him. He just couldn't. He shrugged off his coat and pants, leaving only his shirt on. Gray kneeled in between the fire mage's legs and spread them further apart until he could see Natsu's balls. He reached around Natsu until his hand was cupping the fire mage's flaccid cock and gave it a few hard pulls. Natsu whined pitifully as his body betrayed him. Gray let go of Natsu's cock before tracing around Natsu's hole. He shivered as he felt the muscle clench tightly before he had even tried to breach it.

Taking a deep breath, Gray forced three fingers immediately into Natsu. The fire mage screamed in agony, but Gray didn't give him a break to try and adjust. He ignored Natsu's tears and pleas for him to stop as he fucked his fingers in and out of the fire mage. He tried not to hurl when he noticed the blood on his fingers. He hated that he had to hurt Natsu to keep him safe. Just wanting it over with, he lined his cock up to Natsu and shoved in. Natsu was so tight around him, too tight, it hurt him as well. Gray gritted his teeth as he bottom out. Natsu's insides were just as hot as his mouth and it was a little overwhelming, but Gray didn't want to prolong this torture. He pulled his cock out until only the head was left inside Natsu before pushing in forcefully again.

Natsu wailed as his assault continued. Gray ignored his cries, focusing on finishing this nightmare. He forced in over and over again. Hating himself for doing this. Hating that it felt so good. When he felt the muscles in his stomach and thighs start to coil he reached around Natsu again and began to tug roughly at his cock. Natsu had lost his erection when Gray had entered him, but with the combination of Gray pumping his cock and hitting his prostate over and over again, his cock came back to life. Gray squeezed around Natsu's cock just as he jammed into his prostate again, and the fire mage came with a cry. Gray followed right after. His orgasm was so intense he whited out for a moment.

When Gray's senses came back to him he realized he was lying on top of Natsu, completely covering his back. He heard Natsu's ragged crying and swallowed back vomit as he fully remembered what he'd just done. He forced an expression of calmness and control onto his face as he stood up and pulled his pants back up. He looked arrogantly over at his guild mates and glared at them all. They all stared back without guilt in their expressions. Most looked excited and pleased at what had just occurred. Only Briar and Master Arlock looked displeased with the event. The master looked bored while Briar looked disturbed. When her gaze met his he thought he saw a flicker of pity in her eyes. That just made Gray feel worse. He didn't deserve anyone's pity after what he'd just done.

Gray turned his gaze to the master. "Can I take him back to my room now?" he asked blankly.

"Do what you want with," Master Arlock said starting to retreat. Gray turned back to Natsu and bent down to pick him up. He winced when the fire mage tried to fight him off, but managed to scoop him up anyways. He grabbed ignored Jerome's smug face as he carried the dragon slayer past him and to his room. Natsu cried the whole way there and the whole time Gray cleaned him up. He got the fire mage into the shower and gently cleaned cum and some blood off of his stomach and thighs. He painstakingly dried the fire mage off and carried his limp body to his bed. He dug around in his nightstand to find the healing cream Ai had given him so many months ago and when he had it uncapped the lid and knelt down behind Natsu, but the second he touched the fire mage's backside he freaked.

"No! No! No, Gray. No more, please! Please!" Natsu begged, thrashing around on the bedspread.

Gray put the bottle down and leaned over Natsu and held the fire mage's back to his chest. "Shh. Shh," he urged. "I just want to help you, Natsu. You're all…" His words cut off as he began to cry too. Gray buried his face in Natsu's shoulder and choked back a sob before looking back up at the fire mage. "I'm not going to hurt you. Let me help you."

"No, no, no," Natsu continued to protest, but Gray had to get him healed up down there. He could tell and he wormed a medicine covered finger back in that the fire mage was still bleeding. He let his tears fall along with Natsu's as he cleaned up his own mess. When he was satisfied that he'd attended to Natsu's needs he stood up and went to the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came back he managed to get the fire mage into pajama pants before he tucked him in for the night. Gray walked over to his desk and sat down. It took him a few minutes to realize there was a thick, manila envelope lying across the center of his desk. He reached over for it and ripped it open before pulling out Happy's backpack and Lucy's celestial spirit keys. Confused, he reached back into the envelope and found a letter and a check with the amount of his last few bills. Unfolding the letter he began to read.

Gray,

I have found Lucy Heartfilia and Happy two miles away from your guildhall. Regrettably, I did not find them alive. By the time I found them their bodies were well into the process of decomposition. The mortician I associate with was able to get DNA from what was left of the two to confirm that it was indeed them. I tried to meet with you at your guildhall, but was told you were on a mission. I had no choice but to turn their bodies over to the town's knights. If you would like to visit their graves they have been interned at the local cemetery in town. I am very sorry for your loss.

Sincerely,

Frank Kent

P.S. I have enclosed in the envelope a check with your last bills. My service having been done you no longer owe me any money.

Gray dropped the letter and turned to look at Natsu. Picking up Happy and Lucy's belongings he walked back over to the bed and stood in front of Natsu. He placed Happy's backpack and Lucy's keys beside the fire mage on the mattress. "Lucy and Happy are dead," he told him, voice blank. Tears burned the backs of his eyes and the room spun around him. "I'm so sorry Natsu." He watched as Natsu clutched his friend's belongings to his chest before whirling around and running into the bathroom violently throwing up.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **I know it's been awhile, but my life is crazy right now. I've been working on this chapter for months and I finally have it finished. I'm sorry it's not longer, but at least it's complete. I hope you enjoy and please review. Thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything from Fairy Tail.

* * *

Gray couldn't sleep. He'd been sitting awake in his desk chair for hours now. It was well past midnight and exhaustion surrounded him like a cloak, but he knew only nightmares awaited him if he gave in, and he couldn't bare reliving what he did to Natsu. Gray glanced over at the fire dragon slayer. He'd been quiet all night much to Gray's surprise. After he'd gotten himself somewhat back together and came out of the bathroom he had steeled himself for getting Natsu through his nightmares, but the fire mage hadn't made a sound. He hadn't even moved. Gray could only assume that he was so exhausted his mind had just blacked out. He wouldn't complain. He was thankful his old comrade could get some peace even if it was only temporarily.

Gray was pulled from his thoughts when a soft knock sounded at the door. He tensed and got up from his chair. He prepared for a fight in case it was Jerome coming to convince Gray to team up against the dragon slayer, but when he opened the door he saw Briar standing penitently in the hallway. He only felt marginally better.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"To help you," Briar replied and when he gave her a doubtful look she gazed past him to the sleeping fire mage. "And your friend."

"Why should I believe you?" Gray asked shutting the door slightly to block her view of the boy.

Briar glanced up at him. "What the others in the guild have done to your friend has sickened me since it started," she replied. "What they made you do to him was so awful. I'm sorry. I tried to stop it, but I was shut down by the others."

"Why do you care?" Gray asked her, remembering another time she'd expressed concern over him and the fire mage.

"Because I care about you," Briar answered him simply.

Gray blinked in surprise and then immediately felt a flash of guilt for not having noticed. "Briar…"

"It's okay. I already know you don't feel the same way," Briar interrupted him. "But you do care about your friend and that's why you need to leave with him tonight."

"What?!" Gray exclaimed looking up and down the hall to make sure no one overheard them before turning his attention back to her. "I can't leave. This guild will get me to Zeref. Zeref has the book of E.N.D. I have to get it and destroy it. I promised my father I would destroy that demon."

"Is revenge really worth losing your friend?" Briar snapped. "Is it worth losing someone you love?"

Gray glanced back at Natsu and felt his heart constrict inside his chest. "He'd understand," he replied.

"Would he?" Briar questioned. "He'd understand why revenge was more important than him the next time you're forced to rape him? The next time another member of the guild rapes him?" Gray opened his mouth to protest but she didn't let him. "No one is up and about for one hour of the night during this guild. In an hour take your friend and leave. You can get your revenge another way." She turned and walked away, leaving him standing in alone in the hall.

Gray ducked back into his room and glanced at the fire mage sleeping peacefully in his bed. He wanted revenge for his father, for his family, but he wanted to keep Natsu safe too. He closed his eyes in brief defeat before he started to quickly rummage around the room, throwing clothes and other necessary items in a bag. He wouldn't be able to take everything. It would be important to travel lightly. Gray glanced at the clock and saw it was almost four in the morning. He and Natsu would have to leave soon.

The ice mage leaned over Natsu and gently shook his shoulder. The fire mage woke with a start and Gray clamped a hand over his mouth in case he screamed. "It's just me," he told him, as if after what happened those words would bring the fire mage any assurance at all. "We're leaving. If you have to use the bathroom do it now." Natsu gave him a confused look and Gray groaned. He dragged the fire mage to his feet and pushed him slightly towards the bathroom. Natsu barely budged.

Gray sighed. "Okay, fine," he said exasperated. "We're leaving now. I need you to stay quiet. Can you do that for me?" Natsu didn't respond at all, but Gray had been expecting that. It didn't surprise him at all that the fire mage had reverted back to the traumatized state he'd originally found him in, but it killed him that this time he was the cause of it. Pushing back his guilt, Gray shouldered the bag he'd packed and grabbed Natsu's hand. He was relieved when the fire mage didn't fight him off. Quietly, he led Natsu through the halls of the guild until they exited the building, and then he began to run. Natsu stumbled along behind him.

The two ran through the remainder of the night and didn't stop until the horizon began to glow pink. Gray knew they would have to find a place to hide. The Avatar guild may already be tracking them down. He glanced around their surroundings and noticed a small, wooden building ahead on the trail. He dragged Natsu over to it and shouldered open the door. The small building housed a cot and a small stove. Gray realized immediately that they'd stumbled upon a safe house. There were various safe houses set up around Fiore for any traveling knights. The two mages couldn't have lucked out more if they tried. If the Avatar guild came this way they would never think to look for them in such an obvious hiding place.

Gray glanced over at Natsu and saw that his old guild mate looked exhausted and in pain. He winced. After what he'd done to him last night all that running must have been painful for the fire mage. Gently, Gray led the dragon slayer over to the cot and laid him down on it. Natsu immediately closed his eyes and fell asleep. Exhaustion, was finally settling in for Gray as well, and he reluctantly laid down beside his old comrade, being careful to keep some distance between them. He nodded off shortly after.

When he woke up it was night again. Gray glanced over his shoulder and saw that Natsu was still asleep. Another wave of guilt flowed through him and he knew he couldn't stay with the fire mage. He had gotten him out of the guild but that was the best he could do. He couldn't stay when every time he looked at his old comrade he felt guilt and dismay enough to make him physically ill. And, he reasoned to himself, it would be easier on Natsu not to have to be in the presence of his rapist every day. Gray leaving would be best for both of them.

Still, a part of Gray didn't like that conclusion. After all these months caring for Natsu he'd grown to feel affection for the dragon slayer. An affection he wasn't ready to put a name to. Gray sighed and ran a hand through the pink locks of the fire mage. He had to leave. Even if it would kill a part of him to do so, it was the best option for the both of them. Natsu could move on from his trauma and Gray could hunt down E.N.D. without worrying about dragging Natsu into a fight that wasn't his. Steeling his resolve, Gray pushed himself off the cot the two mages had been sharing and started to dig through the bag he'd packed the night before. He took out all the information he'd found on Zeref's whereabouts in the last year and left everything else for Natsu. He forced himself not to look back at his old friend as he left him behind.

Gray hadn't gotten far, however, when a loud bang made him turn back. Natsu was standing on the top step of the safe house looking frantically around the area. When his eyes locked on Gray he ran towards him, leaving the door wide open. Gray frowned in confusion as he noticed the distraught look on Natsu's face.

"Natsu," he began but he didn't get any further as Natsu plowed into him.

"I'll do better!" Natsu cried clinging onto his shoulders as he looked up at him.

Gray's brows furrowed in confusion. "Natsu?" he questioned.

"I'll do better," Natsu repeated more firmly though the look in his eyes was nothing but terror. "N-next time. I-I'll do better. I'll respond more. I-I'll do m-more so you can feel good." Gray felt bile rise as he realized what Natsu meant. He felt the acid burn the back of his throat as he realized what reason Natsu believed he was leaving for.

He forced himself to swallow the bile back down and shook his head. "Natsu, that's not why I…"

Natsu dropped to his knees before he could say anything else. "I'll do better," the fire mage said again as he reached for the waistband of Gray's pants.

"Natsu, no!" Gray cried pushing the fire mage's hands off of him. Natsu cowered at his feet, staring up at him with watery eyes. The sight truly broke Gray's heart and he dropped to the ground in front of Natsu, gathering the dragon slayer in his arms. "I'm not leaving because you weren't…" Gray clenched his eyes shut and forced himself to say what he had to say next. "I'm not leaving because you weren't good enough, Natsu. You were perfect."

"Then why are you leaving me?" Natsu asked in a small voice, and Gray truly felt like he'd been stabbed in the heart. He pushed Natsu back a little so he could look him in the eyes.

"I need find Zeref so I can get and destroy the Book of E.N.D.," Gray told him. "I promised my father I would destroy that demon."

Natsu nodded looking solemn. "Then I'll come with you," he said.

"No. Natsu, it's too dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt," Gray replied.

Natsu scowled. "I know how to fight," he shot back, and for a moment sounded like his old self before he crumpled completely. "Please, Gray. Don't leave me."

Gray bit his lip. He really didn't want to drag Natsu into his revenge business. And he really thought it would be better for the dragon slayer to be away from him, but after the emotional outburst Natsu had just had he wasn't so sure about that anymore. What if Natsu freaked out and got himself hurt? Gray would feel guiltier than he already did if something happened to Natsu that he could have prevented if he'd stayed. With that thought in mind he caved.

"Alright," he agreed reluctantly pulling Natsu back up to his feet. "We'll leave in the morning." Natsu smiled and cuddled up to his side. Gray smiled and wrapped and arm around the fire mage's waist and led him back to the safe house. Natsu yawned as they breached the doorway. "Are you still tired?" Natsu nodded his head and Gray ran a soothing hand down his back. He gently deposited the dragon slayer onto the cot and tucked him in before turning to get the stove running, but he didn't get a step away from the bed when he was tugged back.

"Don't go," Natsu implored him softly.

"I'm not," Gray assured him. "I just want to get the stove running."

"Don't go," Natsu said again, and Gray sighed. He slid into the cot next to Natsu and pulled the smaller teen onto his chest and rubbed soothing circles into his back absentmindedly as he thought of what to do. He had to destroy E.N.D. and he had to take care of Natsu. How could he do both when they conflicted against each other. He looked down at the fire mage nuzzled up against him. He pressed a quick kiss to his hot forehead and closed his eyes. Maybe he'd find a solution by morning.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **This is a short chapter but it contains much less angst than previous chapters. Hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter. Please leave reviews! They keep me going.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything from Fairy Tail.

* * *

They'd left the safe house a week ago and continued to live on the run from the Avatar Guild. Gray knew the guild would continue to actively search for them for months before they gave up, and even then they'd kill them on spot if they ever saw them again. He knew them though. They're tactics. They're behaviors. They might be good trackers, but they were lazy. They wouldn't take the rougher route to pursue their prey, so Gray had led Natsu into the woods when they left the safe house. A week later and they were deep in the forest. It wasn't a daunting challenge to either mage to live off the land. They had plenty of experience from prior jobs they'd completed. Natsu had slowed them down a little the first day or two because of his injuries but by now he moved as quickly, if not more quickly, than Gray. Although on the run and away from society the two were living comfortably off the land.

However, they weren't as comfortable living with each other. Well, more accurately Gray wasn't comfortable being in Natsu's presence. Every time he looked at the dragon slayer he was overcome by guilt and his nightmares weren't helping. Every night he relived the rape in his dreams. Sometimes it happened exactly like it did. Other times he did something different, but still equally as horrible to Natsu. The worst part wasn't the dreams themselves though. It was their effect on him. Every morning he woke up hard and leaking, a few strokes away from orgasm. He hated himself. Hated how on some unconscious level he'd enjoyed what he did to Natsu. He shouldn't be allowed to be breathing free air. He should be locked away for the rest of his life. Natsu shouldn't have to suffer his presence. Although from the fire mage's behavior towards him he wasn't suffering adverse effects from being around his rapist. That led to the other reason Gray wasn't comfortable around Natsu.

Natsu was always trying to get Gray to sleep with him again. He hovered around the ice mage constantly, and he was always doing things for him, like setting up their sleeping area or gathering food. It had taken Gray awhile to realize he was doing this to try and get Gray to want to sleep with him. Once he had realized it though he'd immediately tried giving Natsu the cold shoulder. That had had disastrous results. Natsu had woken up screaming one night, despite the fact that he hadn't originally been having nightmares, and was completely inconsolable. It had taken Gray three hours to calm him down enough to tell him about the nightmare. Natsu had told him in his dream that Gray had left him alone in the woods and Jerome found him. He hadn't been able to get any more out of the fire mage but he could guess how the rest of the dream continued. He began talking to Natsu again the next day. There hadn't been anymore nightmares.

What really bothered Gray was the unsettled feeling he felt around Natsu. He knew he couldn't lie about the fact that he felt a certain affection for the fire mage. He had been unwilling to put a name to it when it first began early on when he'd rescued Natsu from his cell in the Avatar Guild. Now, though he had to admit that he had feelings for Natsu. And he hated it. Not because Natsu was a guy. Gray had known he was bi since he was fourteen and had had a crush on Cana and Macao. It was the fact that he didn't know why the feelings had developed in the first place. He'd never felt any romance towards Natsu before. In fact, he'd used to hate the dragon slayer before that hate turned to grudging respect and then eventually friendship. He'd never felt anything more for him before the whole mess with Avatar, and that's why he couldn't accept it. It felt wrong to have those feelings for him now. Partially because he couldn't be certain the feelings weren't just derived from the situation and partially because the Natsu he was with now was hardly the real Natsu. The real Natsu wouldn't be eagerly helping Gray gather food and look for shelter. He'd have been bitching about having to work with Gray and saying Gray didn't do his fair share. Natsu certainly wouldn't have been trying to get Gray to have sex with him. Gray knew this, and that's why he couldn't ever act on his feelings. When Natsu got better, if he got better, he'd be disgusted with Gray. Whatever feelings the fire mage had towards him now would warp into hatred. Gray couldn't stand the thought of losing Natsu forever. He didn't want to make it worse for himself by giving into his feelings and really falling for the fire mage.

Currently, the two were hiking along trying to find a new place to settle for the night. It had rained all day and they were hoping to find someplace that wasn't too wet. But as Gray looked up at the sky and saw the sun lowering steadily in the west he had to admit defeat. He plopped down the bag he'd packed roughly on pine needles under a tree. Natsu turned to stare back at him.

"We're staying here," Gray told him. Natsu immediately smiled and began to bunch the pine needles together in a makeshift bed. Gray didn't fail to see that he was making a bed large enough for the two of them. Pretending he didn't notice he began to make his own pine needle bed.

"Gray!" Natsu implored and Gray's head snapped up. He stared over at Natsu before. Although the dragon slayer had hinted in many ways what he wanted from Gray he'd never spoken a word about his intention. Gray was surprised he finally was now, but decided to play dumb.

"What's wrong?" he asked innocently.

Natsu frowned at him. "Why are you making another bed?" he questioned frustrated. "I made this one big enough for the two of us."

Gray closed his eyes for a minute. "I told you I didn't want to sleep with you, Natsu," he sighed.

"I thought you meant you didn't want to have sex," Natsu grumbled. "Why can't we sleep together and cuddle at night?"

"Friends don't cuddle with each other," Gray replied weakly.

"You cuddled with Juvia all the time!" Natsu argued.

"No," Gray responded. "She cuddled me, and I didn't want to cuddle with her any more than I do with you." Immediately he felt guilt rush through him as he saw Natsu's face crumple and without even thinking about it he was pulling the fire mage into his arms. "I didn't mean it that way. I'm sorry."

Natsu peered up at him with weepy eyes. "Please Gray," he pleaded. Gray bit his lip. Would it really hurt to give in and let Natsu have what he wanted? Especially since right now it was just cuddling. Sighing, he gave in.

"Okay," he sighed pushing Natsu back and abandoning his own pile of needles. "But let's eat something before we go to bed." He unzipped his bag and pulled out a bag of jerky he'd packed away. It traveled well. After a week it was almost gone, but it was nice for nights where they weren't around a food source. He ripped off a piece for him and Natsu, giving the fire mage the bigger piece. After they'd both ate they found a separate tree and took care of business before returning to their resting spot for the night. Natsu had beat him there and was lying on top of the pine needle heap. Gray awkwardly laid down beside him, keeping some distance between them and closed his eyes. He opened them when he felt Natsu slide backwards into his chest and started tugging on his arm.

"What are you doing?" Gray asked resisting Natsu's actions.

"Cuddling requires body contact Gray," Natsu huffed, and Gray couldn't help himself. He laughed. He laughed until his lungs hurt from lack of air and tears streamed down his face. Every time he was about to stop he'd look at Natsu's indignant expression and start laughing again. Finally, his laughter subsided and he turned to look at Natsu.

"You're a pain in the ass, Flame-brain," he teased.

Natsu scowled. "You're the pain, Ice Princess," he shot back.

Gray shook his head and wrapped his arm around Natsu's waist and tugged him back against him. "Good night, Natsu," he said. Natsu somehow managed to scoot even closer to him.

"Night, Gray," Natsu murmured before falling to sleep in the ice mage's arms. Gray shook his head. This was all messed up.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **Whoo! Finally up! Sorry for the late update. I know I said on my profile that I would update this chapter yesterday, but I went to visit a friend and it was so hot. When I got home I pretty much just went to bed. Anyway, here's an update on my life. I am working two jobs. Chapter updates will not be fast. Sorry but I don't have as much time as I'd like to work on my writing. Please be patient. I'm still actively working on the fics in my writing schedule. If you ever want to see where I'm at in my writing check out my profile. I have it written down on and I show the progression of each chapter.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything from Fairy Tail.

* * *

Gray was back in the guild, and everything was just as it used to be in Fairy Tail before it had disbanded. Lucy and Levy were in a corner talking about who knows what while Jet and Droy hung out nearby. Gray smirked in amusement to see Gajeel sneaking glances at the solid script mage every once in a while before rejoining his conversation with his exceed. At the bar Mirajane was serving another round to Macao and Wakaba, who were getting drunk, and Cana who had already reached that point. Not far away from them Master Makarov and Laxus were sitting together in silence. Laxus' Thunder Tribe weren't far away from their leader, though they certainly seemed more interested in conversing with Lisanna and Elfman than whatever conversation Laxus was involved in. Gray had just begun to turn his head to look for Erza when a warm, muscular arm wrapped around his shoulder.

He looked up in surprise to see Natsu grinning down at him. Immediately he felt his heart jump in his chest and pick up a few beats. Natsu looked whole again. He looked like the care free Natsu he'd grown up with. Gray found himself sliding his gaze over every inch of the fire mage's body. From his cherry pink hair, to his pointy eyes, to his rock hard abs, to his…

"Take a picture. It'll last longer," Natsu teased him suddenly. Gray blushed, and snapped his eyes back up to Natsu's face, feeling suddenly flustered. Since when did he blush? And since when did Natsu ever pull that sensation from him. He didn't want to have to deal with these emotions. He scowled and shoved Natsu away from him.

"Get lost, Flame-Brain!" he shouted.

"Dude, what the hell?" Natsu asked glowering back at him.

Gray opened his mouth to respond, when Erza's voice rang through the guildhall. "Knock it off you two," she ordered stepping in between them.

"He started it," Gray grumbled.

"What?!" Natsu exclaimed. "You pushed me."

"I said enough!" Erza shouted over them. "If you two are going to fight, take it outside."

Gray sent an icy glare at Natsu. "Fine," he replied in response to Erza before storming out of the guild. He hadn't gotten far when he heard feet thudding after him. He turned to tell whoever it was to leave him alone when he felt the person grab his arm and then drag him behind the guild before slamming him back against the wall. When he got his barings he found himself face to face with Natsu.

"What was that about, Gray?" Natsu asked demandingly.

"Come on, Natsu. Let it go," Gray grumbled trying to step away from the wall but Natsu shoved him back.

"Look was it about last night?" he asked.

"Last night?" Gray questioned, suddenly confused.

Natsu sighed. "It was just sex, Gray," he said. "We don't have to make a big deal out of it. If you don't want to do it again just say so. My feelings won't be hurt."

"It's not that I don't want to…you know, but, God, Natsu I raped you!" Gray blurted out clumsily. To his shock, Natsu burst out laughing.

"Dude, how drunk were you?" Natsu laughed. "I mean, I knew you had a lot to drink but…" He paused when he saw the serious look on Gray's face and forced his laughter away before placing a reassuring hand on Gray's shoulder. "You didn't rape me Gray. Everything was consensual. I said yes."

"What? But…"

"Gray, I promise I said yes," Natsu insisted. "If I hadn't do you really think I'd be here asking you if you wanted to do it again?"

"You want to? Again?" Gray choked out.

"I do," Natsu confirmed. "But it doesn't look like you do."

"I…I don't know if…" Gray stammered.

"Need to think about it?" Natsu asked. "I don't mind waiting."

Gray hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, I…" he cut off when Natsu dropped onto his knees before him. "What are you doing?"

Natsu stared up at him as he unzipped Gray's pants. "Well, I have to leave you with something to think on," he teased before pulling Gray's already half-hard cock out and immediately swallowing it down to the root. Gray keened and fisted a hand into Natsu's hair as the heat around his cock overwhelmed him with pleasure. He felt Natsu smile around him and slide back, releasing his cock with an obscene pop that made Gray groan. "Want me to stop?"

"Don't you dare," Gray growled, tugging Natsu's hair. The dragon slayer smirked before taking him back into his mouth. This time he only took him in halfway before hollowing his cheeks and sucking hard. Gray moaned, tightening his fingers in Natsu's hair. The action seemed to please Natsu who hummed around him. Gray nearly came just from that. Natsu noticed and hummed again on purpose before running his tongue along the vein on the underside of his cock until he reached the head and burrowed his tongue down into his slit. Gray cried out and…

Gray startled awake with a shout. He was shocked to find himself in the woods. He was also stunned to see a wet stain spreading over the crotch of his pants. He looked around and saw Natsu staring down at him, eyes glued to the stain on his pants. The details of his dream suddenly hit him all at once and he felt sick. Gray flew up onto his knees and vomited. He panted for breath, shaking, and for a moment he didn't notice the soothing hands running up and down his back.

He looked back to see Natsu staring at him in concern. "You okay, Gray?" he asked softly.

Gray felt even worse. Natsu shouldn't be asking him if he was okay. He shouldn't care about him at all. "I'm fine," he snapped testily. Natsu backed off and he took a few more shaky breaths, trying to reorient himself.

"I think there's a small creek nearby," Natsu suggested. "I thought I heard running water last night."

Gray nodded. He made his way to the creek and washed up. When he trudged back to their campsite, Natsu had already packed up all their gear. "Let's go," he ordered taking his bag from the fire mage.

"Gray," Natsu began after an hour of traveling.

"No, Natsu," Gray replied.

"But…"

"We're not talking about it!" Gray snapped. He instantly regretted the outburst. He looked back over his shoulder expecting to see Natsu near tears, but instead he was surprised to see an angry frown on the fire mage's face.

"You don't talk to me anymore," Natsu accused.

"That's not true," Gray argued. "I talk to you. Every day."

"No, you give me orders every day," Natsu replied. "You don't talk to me."

Gray sighed and looked down at the ground. "I don't know what to say to you," he admitted.

"You could start with the weather," Natsu suggested snidely. "I know you think I don't want to be near you, but that's not true."

Gray immediately grew serious again. "You shouldn't want me around you," he whispered. "Natsu, I…"

"I know what you did," Natsu cut him off. "And I also know you were just as unwilling a participant as I was. You didn't violate me, Gray. Avatar violated us."

"But I still did it," Gray said. "How am I supposed to live with myself after what I did?"

"By talking to me about it," Natsu answered him.

Gray turned away from the dragon slayer tears filling his eyes. "I can't," he said and walked away quickly. It was a moment before he heard Natsu's steps behind him. The two didn't talk for the rest of the morning. Gray was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the woods beginning to thin out until he heard a door slam somewhere ahead of him. He glanced up and was startled to see houses. He froze.

"We need to go back," Gray said turning around.

"What? Why?" Natsu asked.

"We reached a town," Gray replied. "We'll be seen."

"But we're miles away from the Avatar Guild," Natsu whined. "And there's actual food in towns."

Gray frowned. "I don't think you realize how serious our situation is," he said.

"I don't think you realize how seriously hungry," Natsu complained.

Gray glared at him. "Stop acting like an idiot!" he cried. "Right now your stomach is the least of our problems. Avatars membership extends far past the small group you met at the guild. Most members don'' even reside in a guildhall. There are thousands of Avatar members living throughout Fiore."

Natsu crossed his arms across his chest. "What are the chances of any of them living in this town?" he asked. "Or that they'll know who we are even if they do?"

"You really want to take that chance?" Gray challenged.

"Yes," Natsu answered before marching out of the woods and into someone's backyard.

"Natsu!" Gray hissed and chased after him. He followed Natsu down the side of the house and onto the following street. Natsu seemed to be following the scent of something. Gray sometimes swore Natsu was raised by a dog rather than a dragon. He followed the fire mage through the town until they reached a market place.

"Food!" Natsu exclaimed and started to make a beeline for a hot food cart. Gray grabbed onto the dragon slayer's scarf and pulled him to a halt.

"You don't even have money, Natsu," Gray pointed out.

"No!" Natsu replied face falling. "Do you have any money, Gray?"

Gray sighed, giving in. "Let me see," he said slipping his bag from his shoulder and digging through it. He grumbled as he continued to come up empty. "We're out of luck."

"Maybe we could trade something," Natsu suggested hopefully.

"Trust me. There's nothing in here worth trading," Gray said immediately feeling guilty for the defeated look on Natsu's face. "Look, maybe someone will…"

"Excuse me?" a woman's voice broke into their conversation and they turned to see a young woman standing beside them. "Did I hear you say you don't have enough money for food?"

"Yeah. It's fine. We'll just…"

"Let me pay for your meal," the woman said cutting Gray off.

"Thank you. But we can't accept that. We wouldn't be able to pay you back," Gray replied.

"It's fine," the woman responded walking over to the food cart. "I don't want you to pay me back. Order whatever you want."

"Thanks!" Natsu exclaimed happily and immediately gave the vendor his order.

"Thank you," Gray said sincerely. After the two had ordered their meals the woman stuck around.

"I guess you boys don't have a place to stay?" the woman inquired.

"No. We're just rolling through," Gray replied.

"You two look like you could use a good rest," the woman said. "Why don't you stay at my place tonight? Oh, my name is Kali by the way."

"I'm Gray. He's Natsu," Gray replied. "And thank you, but we can't intrude in your life."

"It wouldn't be an intrusion at all! Kali insisted. "In fact, you'd be doing me a favor. My roommate just moved out and I've been lonely. You'd be keeping me company for a night."

"It's just for one night, Gray," Natsu said. "It would be nice to sleep indoors for a night."

Gray sighed. "Alright," he gave in. "What can it hurt?"

The boys followed Kali back to her place. They spent the evening listening to her prattle on and on about her life. Gray was sure they both wanted out of there early the next morning. They both had to fight back a sigh of relief when Kali announced she was going to bed.

"Finally,' Natsu murmured after Kali had cleared the stairs.

Gray snickered. "No kidding," he replied settling down on the floor of the living room. He'd let Natsu have the couch. "The forest is looking pretty good right now, isn't it?" The two were silent for a while as they settled in.

"Hey, Gray?" Natsu whispered after a moment.

"Yeah?" Gray asked.

"I'm sorry about this morning," Natsu said. "I don't want to make you talk to me if you don't want to."

Gray winced. "It's not that I don't want to talk to you. I can't talk about what happened and…"

"We could always talk about what we used to when Fairy Tail still existed," Natsu suggested.

"I don't recall us ever talking when we were in Fairy Tail," Gray huffed. "We just fought all the time."

"That's not true," Natsu protested. "We talked all the time."

"About missions we were going on together," Gray pointed out. "We never talked about anything outside of missions."

"Well maybe we should start," Natsu said.

"Okay," Gray laughed. "What do you want to talk about?"

"No idea," Natsu replied and they both burst out laughing. After they'd caught their breath Natsu spoke again. "I miss Fairy Tail."

"Me too," Gray admitted. "I was really angry when Gramps disbanded the guild. It felt like a betrayal. I mean…after all we've been through together…to just end it like that…I was angry."

"I was devastated," Natsu whispered. "I never dreamed Fairy Tail would be disbanded. The only thing that got me through that last year was thinking I'd see everyone again. Even you."

Gee, thanks," Gray chuckled. "I missed you too, Flame Brain."

Silence fell for a few minutes before Natsu broke it again. "Gray, I know you can't talk about what happened, but I need you to know that I forgive you for what you did," he said seriously.

Gray swallowed around the lump in his throat. "I don't deserve forgiveness," he choked.

"That's not for you to decide," Natsu replied gently. They didn't speak for the rest of the night.

When Gray woke up the next morning he had the distinct feeling that something was wrong. He lifted his head up and looked around the room. Nothing. No one was there. Nothing was out of place. Still, all the hair on his arms were raised and nerves prickled up and down his spine like sharp needles. Gray stood up and shook Natsu awake.

"What's wrong?" Natsu asked when he saw his face.

"I don't know," Gray whispered eyes darting around the room again. "We need to go."

"We can't leave without warning, Kali," Natsu protested getting up. "What if…" He froze, eyes widening in fear.

"Natsu? What…"

"They're here," Natsu whispered.

"Who?" Gray asked. "Who's here?"

"Forget about us already, Gray?" Jerome's smug voice rang throughout the room.

Gray stiffened and turned around to face his old guild mate. "I didn't forget about you," he spat. "I just assumed you had better things to do than chase after us. Don't you have to plan a welcoming party for Zeref?"

Jerome smirked. "That wouldn't be nearly as fun as killing you will be. Or taking my toy back," he taunted. Gray's eyes flashed in fury and he went to attack Jerome, but was beaten to the punch. A burst of flame went past him straight into Jerome who screamed in agony. Gray whipped his head back to look at Natsu and what he saw shocked him. Natsu was glaring at Jerome's enflamed figure, eyes glowing a coal red. He thought he could see scales on the dragon slayer's face and arms, but he wasn't positive. He couldn't look away from the terrifying expression on Natsu's face. It was an expression that could make a heart stop.

"Natsu," Gray said. The dragon slayer's eyes flickered over to him. "We need to go." Immediately, Matsu's face softened and he nodded his head in compliance. The two ran out of the house, through the town, and back into the forest. It would be awhile before they stopped.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **Wow. This is a baby chapter, but I decided to end it where I did because I wanted a small break from the angst and I thought it was a good place to stop before leading into Gratsu together in a relationship. I was listening to my ipod while typing this up on my laptop and Collide by Howie Day came on. I now totally think of it as Gratsu's song. If you want listen to the song while you're reading the chapter. I hope you all enjoy the chapter and please leave a review. I promise the next chapter will be much longer.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything from Fairy Tail.

* * *

Gray and Natsu didn't stop running until they were deep into the forest and were sure they couldn't be followed. They both fell to their knees and gasped for breath. Gray closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing. He couldn't get the expression on Natsu's face when he'd attacked Jerome out of his head. There had been something off in the expression. There had been a cold fury in his face that he had never seen before. It was an expression that didn't belong to Natsu.

"I'm sorry, Gray."

Natsu's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he turned to stare at the dragon slayer. "For what?" he asked.

"For making you follow me into town and accept that girl's offer," Natsu said. "What happened this morning was my fault."

"No it wasn't, Natsu," Gray told him. "You couldn't have known that would happen."

"You said it would," Natsu argued.

"I was being paranoid," Gray replied.

Natsu was silent for a moment. "I feel bad for getting that nice girl involved," he sighed after a minute.

Gray gawked at him. "Natsu," he said, "she's the one who gave our location to Avatar."

"Natsu's eyes widened in realization. "Oh," he stated and they both burst out laughing. When they both calmed down Gray sat up.

"We need to move," he said.

"We can't stay here?" Natsu asked.

"No. I want as much ground between us and Avatar as possible," Gray replied getting to his feet.

"Do we have to live in the woods for the rest of our lives?" Natsu whined.

Gray laughed and helped him up. "Of course not, but right now it's the safest option," he said.

"Fine," Natsu grumbled. "Can we at least find someplace fun to camp?"

"Define someplace fun," Gray replied as they started moving again.

"I don't know," Natsu huffed. "Some place we could have fun and relax."

"Something tells me those places are in short supply out here, Natsu," Gray commented.

"Well, we'll just have to look for one," Natsu replied cheerfully.

"I'll keep my eyes open," Gray returned dryly before smiling slightly. "What does this place look like?"

"It's by a lake," Natsu answered quickly. "That way we could fish."

"Practical," Gray stated. "But all the mosquitos would bite. Get it?"

"That was lame," Natsu said unamused.

"You're lame, Flame-Brain," Gray replied shoving Natsu slightly. Natsu shoved him back. Harder. The play fight quickly escalated and soon they were full out wrestling. Before Avatar had held Natsu captive he'd had the advantage when it came to their wrestling matches. The dragon slayer had always been bulkier than him, much to his annoyance. When he was younger he had tried to compete and build up muscle, but just wasn't able to bulk up like Natsu. Now though, he was the stronger of the two and he easily floored Natsu. He climbed over and straddled the fire mage's hips to keep him down.

"I win," he gloated holding Natsu's arms above his head.

Natsu glared up at him. "Only because I'm out of shape," he said.

Gray laughed. "Better get you back into…" he cut off as he felt something hard poking into his backside.

Natsu blushed under him. "Sorry," he muttered. "I know you don't like me like that."

Gray's eyes widened. "I…that's not what I said, Natsu," he replied.

"But you don't want to be close to me," Natsu said sadly.

Gray sighed. "That's not true," he returned. "I want to be with you Natsu. I just don't think it's a good idea."

"Why?" Natsu asked.

"Because I can't be sure if it's what you really want or if it's the result of what Avatar did to you," Gray answered.

Natsu frowned. "Isn't that something I would know?" he questioned.

Gray smiled sadly. "Do you know?" he asked softly. "Did you ever like me before this all happened?"

"No. I never thought of you that way before," Natsu admitted.

Gray nodded, schooling his expression into one of neutrality. "My point exactly," he replied.

"But why does that mean I can't like you now?" Natsu demanded.

"Because you're confused," Gray cried.

Natsu looked angry now. "Quit telling me how I feel!" he shouted up at him. "I know how I feel about you. I don't care why my feelings towards you have changed. I think you're the one who's confused."

Gray blinked in surprise. "I'm not confused," he said. "I'm just trying to do what's best for you."

"Without including me in the decision or asking how I feel about it," Natsu stated. "I get that you're trying to protect me and make amends for what you did, which you know I don't blame you for, but you're making decisions about me and what I feel without asking for my input."

"You're right," Gray admitted after a moment. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Natsu told him. "Just, from now on can we work out what we're doing about me together?"

Gray huffed out a laugh. "Okay. So how do you feel?" he asked.

"I want to be with you," Natsu said bluntly. "I don't know if it's because of Avatar or not. To me it doesn't matter. How I felt about you in the past, or what I didn't feel about you in the past, has no bearing of how I feel about you now. And I know you're going to put a bar on sex in the relationship but I don't care if we never do that. I just want to be with you."

Gray smiled and shook his head. He bent down and pecked a quick kiss on Natsu's lips. "I do too," he replied sitting up. "But we're taking this slow."

Natsu smiled and leaned up to steal another kiss. "Okay," he agreed. "But we'll take it slow together."


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **First and foremost I would like to apologize for how long I've gone without updating this fic. Six months is unacceptable. I've been in a very large creative slump. My work hours suck so I don't feel like writing a lot when I get home. Second, I am about to lose access to a computer for a while. I still plan on working on my stories but I may not be able to post them. The good news on that end though is that a lot of my fics might get updated at once or in quick succession once I get access to a computer again. So if you read any of my other fics you can have that to look forward to. Last, I have no idea what I'm doing with this fic right now. I know how it ends, but I'm not sure how I'm getting there. So I've decided to take on requests for a while. Anything you want to see the boys do let me know. I want to lay off the angst for a while and let their relationship develop. Please keep in mind that if you have a kink request I may not be able to use it for obvious reasons when it comes to the boys recent past with Avatar. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I'm sorry it's so short and kind of pointless. I wanted to get something up before I lost my computer access.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything from Fairy Tail. All rights belong to the writer and creator of the manga and anime show.

* * *

To Gray's shock they did end up finding a decent place to hide out from the Avatar Guild. After a few more weeks of hiking through the forest they had stumbled across a cabin. Gray could only assume it had once belonged to a hunter. On their first quick search of the cabin Natsu had found a few rusted bear traps. At first glance the cabin had appeared empty for quite some time. The pathway to the front door was overgrown and there was no sign of human activity. No foot prints or tire tracks were to be found near the property and Natsu had assured Gray there was no human scent on the property.

Still, Gray hadn't been sold on staying at the cabin. He was convinced that the cabin had been abandoned, but he had been worried they might be near a town or in a popula hunting spot. He didn't want to interact with others in fear that they would notify Avatar that they had seen them. Natsu had insisted though, that they stay for at least a week and Gray had conceded. During that week both boys kept an eye out for any human activity, but there was no sign that anyone else was out in the woods near them. And the cbain proved even more tempting when Natsu discovered a lake nearby. Gray could only assume the person who'd owned the cabin must have found this place and kept it to himself. Over the week Gray had branched out in all directions from the cabin and travelled as far as he could on foot in a day. There didn't appear to be any towns nearby in any direction he went.

When the week had passed he had declared they were staying. There were rules to enforce their safty, however. They couldn't use the fire place. Gray didn't want anyone to see the smoke and come looking to find its souce. He'd set up a perimeter around the cabin they needed to stay in. Gray wanted them to stay close in case Avatar found them. There would be almost immediate backup if they had to fight and they wouldn't have to worry about getting separated if they had to make a fast escape. Gray had wanted to ban any practicing of magic, but Natsu had shut him down. He insisted it could only be a good thing if they were both in top form if they had to face their enemies again.

Currently, Gray was sitting ona rotten tree stump in front of the cabin watching Natsu train. He had clearly improved greatly in the year the guild had been disbanded. And he was pleased to see that the fire mage was putting on some weight and building his muscles back up. Gray couldn't help scanning his eyes over Natsu's abs. They were one of the features he liked best about Natsu's body. Over the last few months he'd learned a lot about Natsu's body.

"Hey Ice Pervert, you checking me out?" Natsu's voice snapped Gray out of his trance and he looked up to see the dragon slayer smiling at him.

Gray smiled back. "Just checking out how sloppy your form is," he teased.

Natsu punched him lightly on the shoulder. "I don't see you training," he replied in mock annoyance.

"I'd rather watch you," Gray replied. "I'm enjoying the view."

Natsu smiled brightly at him. "Oh yeah?" he questioned kneeling down between Gray's knees. "Bet I can get you to enjoy yourself even more."

Gray frowned slightly and Natsu popped open the button of his jeans. Blowjobs were still pretty touchy for Natsu. Sometimes he would give them and be just fine. Other times it would lead to a massive panic attack. And he could never let Gray return the favor, which made Gray feel guilty as he felt he benefitted from this arrangement more than Natsu did.

"You don't have to," Gray said as Natsu pulled down his zipper.

"I know that," Natsu laughed. "I want to." Gray must have looked unconvinced becaust Natsu's face softened and he lifted a hand up to caress Gray's cheek. "If I need to stop I will. Promise."

"Go ahead then," Gray agreed slowly. Natsu smiled brightly again before pulling Gray's dick out and immediately wrapping his lips around the head and sucking. "Hngh!" Gray groaned and clamped his fingers in Natsu's hair. Natsu stiffened for a moment but quickly relaxed again before Gray could remove his hand. "Need me to let go?"  
"Nah-nah," Natsu hummed around his dick while taking more of it into his mouth. Gray's grip tightened as he tried very hard not to come. He had always thought he had very good stamina, but everything Natsu did had him shaking apart. He glanced down at the fire mage and saw he was staring up at him, nothing but affection in his eyes. Gray brought his hand down from Natsu's hair and stroked his cheek.

"Mine," he said surprising himself with his possessiveness. He worried for a moment that it might set Natsu off, but the other mage just amiled around his dick before releasing it with a wet pop.

"Yours," he agreed befire taking him back into his hot mouth and taking him down to the root before swallowing.

"Christ!" Gray hissed leaning forward. Natsu pulled back slightly to breathe befire immediately swallowing him down again. Three more times he repeated the action before Gray finally spilled his seed down his throat.

"Good?" Natsu croaked wiping his mouth.

Gray snorted. "Better than good," he replied trying to pull Natsu closer. Natsu was reluctant though and gently pushed back. Gray frowned, concerned. "You okay? You promised…" Natsu's kiss broke him off. He returned it briefly before pulling away and staring up at Natsu waiting for a response.

Natsu sighed. "I just don't want that kind of touch today," he said. "Sorry."

"You never have to be sorry, Natsu," Gray told him firmly.

Natsu shrugged. "I just feel like I get more out of this relationship than you do," he sighed.

"Che," Gray huffed amused. "Funny, because I feel I benefit more than you do."

Natsu laughed. "I guess that means we're both winning," he said.

"I'd say that;s a safe bet," Gray replied standing up. "Come on. Let's get dinner."

The two went down to the lake near the cabin and caught a few fish for dinner. Gray let Natsu do the cooking. He was better at it than Gray and actually seemed to enjoy cooking. They had just finished when Natsu started asking questions.

"What did everyone do when the guild disbanded?"

"What do you mean?" Gray asked.

"Well where did everyone go?" Natsu questioned. "I know Juvia went with you."

Gray smiled at Natsu's pouting face. "You're not jealous are you?" he teased. "You know I don't return her feelings."


End file.
